When I came to Binghamton University, I planned on majoring in political science with a vague idea of where that would take me. I’ve always been interested in politics, so it just sort of felt right to me. Not knowing what I would be or where I would end up terrified me, so I just continued down the path that felt like it made the most sense to me at the time.

But in my second semester at BU, I took “Rhetoric 240: Introduction to Journalism” on a whim, and can honestly say that it changed the trajectory of my entire life. I’ll never forget being so upset that I couldn’t sign up for the class, since it was restricted for English majors only. As an undeclared little freshman, I thought I was out of luck until the next year. It was my then-resident-assistant and friend who told me to “just show up and see what happens.” I did and got one of the last seats left in the class.

Now, I can safely say that “just showing up” to that class was one of the best decisions I’ve made since coming to BU. Through that class, I rediscovered my childhood love of writing — journalistic writing in particular — and gained the two most incredible mentors a girl could ask for.

That was the same semester that I joined the Pipe Dream News section — a decision purely motivated by my rekindled love of writing.

Ever since then, my college experience has been defined by unpredictability, which is a thought that would have terrified freshman me four years ago. From accidentally discovering a love of writing that would change any career ideas I had, to everything that came with Zoom University and the COVID-19 pandemic cutting my sophomore year short and making my junior year entirely online, it’s been a wild ride for me.

Throughout all of this uncertainty, I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish anything at all without the incredible support system I have in my life. I will never be able to find enough words and time to thank all of you and express just how grateful I am, but here goes nothing.

Firstly, to my family — Thank you for everything. Literally everything. Mom and Dad, I love you so much. Thank you for being there for me not only these past four years, but for my whole life.

Catherine — Our long-distance friendship has been so important to me for the past few years! I literally don’t know what I would do without you in my life. I feel so lucky to know you at all, and there are no words to convey how special and proud I feel to call you my best friend. You’re going to do amazing things and I can’t wait to hear all about them, via five-minute audio messages, for years to come.

Ellie — Where would I be without you? I have no idea how I would have survived these past two years without you in my life. You and your sense of humor have brought so much light to my life in such dark and challenging times. I will always cherish our friendship and countless inside jokes, from Girlboss Eliot to red lines to Dame Judi Dench, and I can’t wait to make more with you. I literally can’t believe that I get to call someone as amazing as you my friend, and I absolutely cannot wait to see where life takes you.

To my Bing besties, Jackie, Salenna and Talia — Salenna, thank you for being there for me since day one. Well, actually, before day one. It feels like just yesterday we met at freshman orientation, and I was freaking out because someone I thought was so cool was going to be living in the same building as me. I feel so grateful that you’re still in my life after all of this time. Jackie, between late-night fast food runs and Taylor Swift listening parties, I couldn’t have asked for a better roomie in the Nut House and for someone to be codependent on for the past two years. Thank you so much for everything. Talia, where do I even start? Between our trauma-bonding during my freshman year and you literally convincing me to take the class that changed my life, I will never be able to thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me. You’re going to be the most amazing veterinarian ever, and I can’t wait to see you again!

Hamza, Mark and Melissa — my News team! Thank you all for making my time on staff not only bearable, but fun — because we’re fun! I can’t wait to see all of the amazing things you all accomplish at BU next year, both on Pipe Dream and off.

Eric and Rachel — as mentioned earlier, you both literally changed the trajectory of my life, not exaggerating. Letting me into that class, believing in me — I can never thank you both enough for every single thing you’ve done for me these past four years. You’ve been the best mentors I could ever dream of asking for, and I feel so incredibly lucky to have you in my life.

There are so many more people I want to thank, but I only have so much space. To everyone who didn’t fit on this list, you’re no less important to me and thank you for supporting me during my time at BU and during my whole life.

I can’t quite believe yet that my four years here are over! Although I have no clue where life will take me, I can’t wait to enter the next era of my life, as unpredictable as it may be.

Kaitlyn Hart is a senior double–majoring in English and political science and is Assistant News Editor.

The decision comes after a months-long police investigation into allegations of sexual assault and druggings, that has so far resulted in the arrests of owners Yaron “Ron” Kweller, 41, Jordan Rindgen, 33, as well as Leor Kweller, 42, the brother of Yaron. The Kweller brothers were charged with third-degree rape, while Rindgen was charged with third- and fifth-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance. However, while Dos Rios Cantina and The Colonial are closing, a third restaurant under ownership of the three members, The Stone Fox, will remain open for the time being. All three owners have pleaded not guilty.

In a statement from Herald PR — the public relations agency representing Yaron Kweller — Juda Engelmayer, the president of the agency, said Yaron Kweller is maintaining full innocence and that he had voted in favor of the restaurants closing.

“Yaron Kweller, a current partner in the restaurants, was not directly involved in the operations since December,” Engelmayer wrote in an email. “At a partners meeting this week, he did vote in favor of shutting down the restaurants as it became clear they were no longer financially solvent and did not have funds to cover payroll. A capital contribution was made to make sure all employees were paid.”

The restaurants are located on Court Street in Downtown Binghamton, where had protesters gathered in December soon after allegations were made and the businesses closed for the first time.

Jackie Timm, a former employee at The Colonial and a senior majoring in human development, said she was happy to see the restaurants were closing.

“After all of the allegations came out back in December, they shut down which I was happy about,” Timm said. “When they reopened, I was appalled … It was sickening to even see people still spending money there. I think the best-case scenario, what they should’ve done is sold the business, get completely new owners and start over. You can’t recover from something as serious as that.”

A Facebook group titled “Binghamton Believes Survivors of Sexual Assault” has been active throughout the case. Quinn Singer, an administrator of the group, had made a post about the closings.

“Y’all — we made this happen,” Singer wrote. “You all made this happen. There are so few times that institutions are held accountable for the harm that they let happen within our communities.”

Adelaide Cagle, a senior majoring in biomedical engineering, said hearing about the accusations was unnerving.

“My friends and I used to eat there all the time,” Cagle wrote in an email. “It’s scary to think what could have been happening there after hours and it was really unsettling to see how many people continued to eat there after the news broke. I’m glad they’re closing finally, and I hope it’s a chance for other businesses in the community to gain some traction.”

There is an ongoing overdose crisis in Broome County — and not just for opioids, but for all kinds of drug classifications, including cocaine, methamphetamine and counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl.

As a result, fatal overdoses are occurring in situations in which there typically wouldn’t be the presence of an opioid. Marissa Knapp, the opioid overdose prevention coordinator at the Broome County Health Department, recommends that students be aware of the risks and resources in Binghamton and in Broome County, and for students who use drugs recreationally to be trained in administering Narcan and carry a Narcan kit.

Below is an updated list of drug and addiction resources for Binghamton University students on and off campus.

ON CAMPUS:

Decker Student Health Services Center

4400 Vestal Pkwy. E., Vestal, New York 13850

(607) 777-2221 or bdoughty@binghamton.edu

Through the Opioid Research Center for Central New York (ORCC-NY), Decker Student Health Services Center has an Opioid Overdose Prevention Program, where students can be trained on how to use and administer naloxone, or Narcan kits, as well as receive Narcan kits once they have been trained. Those who would like to request training or have any additional questions can contact Bennett Doughty, program director and a clinical assistant professor of pharmacy practice.

The Office of Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs (ATOD)

Room 357, Old O’Connor Hall

lreynold@binghamton.edu or 607-777-3088

The ATOD office, headed by Linda Reynolds, the college prevention coordinator, works with students individually and creates campus-wide programming to “[empower BU] students to make healthy lifestyle choices surrounding substance use,” according to its website. The office also provides services such as eCHECKUP TO GO, an online prevention tool for students to take alcohol, cannabis or nicotine assessments. In addition, the office provides alcohol screenings and intervention, cannabis screening and intervention, environmental management, recovery resources and more.

Binghamton Student Managed Adderall Research Team (B-SMART)

lina@binghamton.edu

B-SMART is a research and educational student-run group that consists of health and wellness studies students aimed to understand the study-drug epidemic on college campuses. According to the group’s “About” page, they have “collected and analyzed data on Adderall (an amphetamine-based drug typically prescribed to individuals with ADHD) abuse on college campuses” and continue to hold educational seminars, classroom visits, discussions and more to promote awareness on misuse of the drug. B-SMART is holding its eighth semiannual seminar on April 25, which will promote awareness about the dangers of study-drug abuse before finals week. For additional information, contact Lina Begdache, mentor of B-SMART and an assistant professor of health and wellness studies.

OFF-CAMPUS:

United Health Services (UHS) Vestal

4417 Vestal Pkwy. E., Vestal, New York 13850

(607) 762-2622

UHS Vestal provides free overdose prevention training and Narcan kits to anyone in need. Those interested can call Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to receive Narcan training over the phone, with contact-free pickups of Narcan kits offered.

Truth Pharm

49 Pine St., Suite 6, Binghamton NY 13901

607-296-3016

Truth Pharm is a local Southern Tier based organization that attempts to take action, educate and advocate for those impacted by substance use. The group is an anti-harm, not anti-drug, organization that advocates for harm reduction through raising awareness and reducing the stigma of substance misuse. Truth Pharm also provides materials such as fentanyl test strips.

Southern Tier AIDS Program (STAP)

22 Riverside Dr., Binghamton, NY 13901

(607) 798-1706 or hotline at (800) 333-0892

STAP offers a variety of resources such as HIV, Hepatitis C or sexually transmitted disease (STD) testing. The program provides fentanyl test strips and has a syringe exchange program for injection drug users to exchange new sterile syringes for used syringes to reduce the risk of infection with HIV, Hepatitis C and other blood-borne illnesses. The Riverside Drive location is its main office, but STAP has multiple locations throughout the Southern Tier — all of which can be found here.

Dial 211

In New York state, calling 211 will direct callers to local resources. Callers will be placed on the line with a person who can help direct them to substance misuse resources and help direct them on how to find materials such as fentanyl test strips.

Addiction Center of Broome County (ACBC)

30 W. State St., Binghamton, NY 13901

(607) 723-7308

ACBC offers a variety of services, such as psychiatric evaluations, outpatient clinic and rehabilitation, family navigation and more. The center also has locations in Endicott and Norwich.

As a specialist in early African American and African Diaspora history, Alexander focuses particularly on late 18th and early 19th century Black culture, political consciousness and resistance movements. Her presentation, titled “Lessons from Past and Present: Policing in the Age of COVID,” reviewed the history of policing since the founding of the United States, and its impact on modern policing and systemic racism.

The talk was held by the Harriet Tubman Center for Freedom and Equity with support from multiple departments and organizations on campus, some of which include the Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, the department of Asian and Asian American Studies and the Campus Citizens Review Board (CCRB).

Alexander began by speaking about victims of police violence during the past two years, such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and the importance of demonstrating care and compassion for each other.

Alexander also spoke about how the long history of policing and vigilante violence has impacted Black communities, and gave examples from the United States’ 250-year history. She said that as a historian, she believes people need to study history to fully understand the situation of the present.

“Since the founding of this nation, Black strivings for liberation have been demonized, criminalized and subjected to persecution, while white people’s demands for liberty are deemed rational, legitimate and largely unthreatening,” Alexander said. “There has never been a time in American history when Black people’s quest for freedom and equality did not spark existential fear among white people, frequently leading to a violent response. A deep-seated, gnawing terror that Black people might one day rise up and demand for themselves the same freedoms and inalienable rights that led white colonists to declare the American Revolution has shaped American politics, culture and systems of justice ever since.”

Binghamton University President Harvey Stenger attended the virtual talk and thanked Anne Bailey, co-director of the Tubman Center and a professor of history, for helping to organize the event and Alexander for educating those in attendance.

“This was really interesting and thoughtful, and it brings hard conversations to the top of the pile,” Stenger said. “I know that the people on this call are people who are used to hard conversations. My job is to bring these conversations to people who aren’t on this call. Thank you for bringing this knowledge to this group today.”

Caroline Sandleitner, the BU Council Representative and a first-year graduate student studying public administration, also attended the talk. Sandleitner said she thought the talk was powerful and inspired an interesting discussion from the audience during the Q&A period.

“I attended today’s talk to support the newly established … Tubman Center, and to hear what our community feels about policing and [COVID-19] given the currency of these issues,” Sandleitner wrote in an email. “Studying the past is the best way to inform our future, and I think conversations like the one today are essential to creating an environment where all students feel safe and represented on campus.”

Bailey said she aimed to provide an important space for students with Alexander’s talk.

“We chose Dr. Alexander because of the [Truth and Reconciliation] process and testimonies from some students and staff of color about relationships with the police on campus and in the community at large,” Bailey wrote in an email. “This is a national issue, as you know, and we wanted to face it head-on. We wanted to create a forum where there could be great exchange of ideas and dialogue and that is exactly what happened.”

During the Q&A, Flavio Darini, an attendee and a junior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, asked Alexander about the kinds of strategies she recommended for raising awareness of the issues of systemic racism in policing — particularly among white people — as well as what methods of framing the issues people should avoid when trying to educate others.

In response, Alexander said that it is important to not alienate people and to stay away from language that tries to shame or blame others when attempting to educate.

“I feel like it’s my job as a historian and a thinker to tell the truth,” Alexander said. “And the truth is hard for people. That’s why I was saying before [in the talk], even in my classes, I have to talk my students through some of the material that’s being presented because it’s hard, and it’s ugly and it’s painful. But it’s also real. And I think that if we want to make radical change, we have to be willing to present radical ideas and to push from the margins and challenge people to have the difficult conversations that need to be had.”

For the elections on March 9, students could vote online for the positions of president, executive vice president (EVP), vice president of finance (VPF), vice president for multicultural affairs (VPMA), vice president for programming (VPP), vice president for student success (VPSS) and BU Council representative. In total, 1,941 ballots were cast, an increase from last year’s total of 1,661. Alexandria Chun, chair of the SA Elections and Judiciary Committee and a sophomore majoring in politics, philosophy and law, said she was satisfied with how the election process went, despite any issues that had arisen.

“It was extremely eventful with three separate hearings and almost 25 submitted grievances, but I don’t think anyone can say that they were disappointed by the elections process,” Chun said. “The creation of the first comprehensive Election Code definitely pointed out some flaws in our system that we are very ready to amend.”

A draft for a new SA Election Code had been proposed in December and included the addition of a penalties document, outlining campaign rules and punishments for violations.

Due to the four candidates running for the position of president, the SA Elections and Judiciary Committee had implemented a ranked-choice voting system, which eliminates one candidate who has the least amount of votes periodically. Through the system, Nia Johnson, a junior majoring in human development, was elected president with a total of 952 votes. Samantha Carroll, a sophomore majoring in philosophy, politics and law, came in second place with 684 votes, Galileo Savage, a sophomore majoring in political science, came in third place with 399 votes and Ethan Kesler, a sophomore majoring in business administration, came in fourth place with 308 votes.

Johnson, the president-elect, said that she was grateful to have been elected to the position and wants to make the campus a safer environment for all students.

“There is no doubt in my mind that this newly elected Executive Board has the grit and the passion to make this campus a better one,” Johnson wrote in an email. “Since speaking with the newly elected Executive Board, we are all on the same page on what needs to get done and we are already brainstorming ways to start our term strong. I can honestly say, this newly elected Executive Board is not one to be taken lightly, because we truly are an Executive Board that is here to serve the students and enact change.”

Also elected to the E-Board were Daniel Croce, junior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, as VPF, Anindya Debnath, an undeclared freshman, as VPSS, Erica Juarez, a sophomore majoring in human development, as VPMA and Avery Benzaken, a senior majoring in economics, as BU Council representative. Two of the positions, EVP and VPP, were uncontested, with the winners being Daniel Rocabado, a junior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, and Jocelyn Phipps, a junior double-majoring in political science and sociology, respectively.

Also on the ballot was an initiative to make the student activity fee continue to be mandatory instead of optional for all students, which passed with 66.6 percent of the vote.

Overall, 19 out of the 20 members of the SA Congress present voted to confirm the results, with one member abstaining from the confirmation vote.

David Hatami, current SA president and a senior majoring in political science and business administration, said he is excited to see what the future has in store for the SA.

“The Elections and Judiciary Committee did a strong job in facilitating this year’s SA election,” Hatami wrote in an email. “I am proud of their work and am happy to see the certification of the election results in Congress this past Tuesday. As the outgoing president of the SA, I am glad to express my steadfast confidence in the newly elected Executive Board. I am sure that we will see great leadership next year as we begin a new chapter for our campus community.”

The rally, held in support of Candela and her policy, was organized by the Latin American Student Union (LASU), featuring students, sociology faculty and community organizers speaking in support of her and the policy. On Candela’s syllabus for her Sociology 100: Social Change: Introduction to Sociology course, Candela included a section saying that she would practice a “progressive stacking” model in the class, a model that would prioritize calling on nonwhite, female or shy students during class discussions. This prompted a student in the class, Sean Harrigan, a junior majoring in economics, to file a Title IX complaint for gender discrimination. The University then told Candela to write a statement clarifying the policy, which the University never released.

The Title IX complaint was covered by several news outlets, such as Campus Reform, The Guardian and Fox News. In response to the news coverage, Candela has been on the receiving end of hate mail and harassment, according to a blog post from the sociology department.

Candela said that she was grateful for the support that she’s been receiving from colleagues, students and friends, and attended the rally to support the student groups that have been supporting her.

“I wanted to support LASU, [the Women’s Student Union (WSU)] and the other student groups organizing the rally because their statements connect what is happening to me with a broader set of problems that plague students and faculty of color, women and LGBTQ folks within the University,” Candela wrote in an email.

Melanie Ibagon, political correspondent of LASU, main organizer of the rally and a sophomore double-majoring in music and linguistics, wrote in an email on behalf of LASU that they felt it was not the first time the University has not prioritized defending campus community members of color.

“We are holding this rally because we are tired as [people of color] at this university to have to constantly be overlooked and for the administration to continue ignoring us and assume what we want,” Ibagon wrote. “What happened to Prof. Candela was only the breaking point for so many [Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC)] students and faculty. [BU] has made it evident that they will always choose to protect their white students rather than their own faculty. We held this rally because we know it’s time for [BU] to implement a change with the way their students and faculty of color and women are treated and because we refuse to be ignored.”

At the protest LASU E-Board members read aloud a list of demands for the University, calling upon the University to make an official statement on how the use of progressive stacking violated the Faculty-Staff Handbook and why this claim was addressed immediately compared to other Title IX claims, to acknowledge that the situation was handled poorly and to have progressive stacking implemented in more classrooms.

Donald Neiman, the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, responded to some frequently asked questions about the situation in an email letter, stating the issue was with the language in Candela’s syllabus. According to the letter, the language violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which guides the University and its employees. The letter also said the policy went against the “principles of effective teaching” contained in the Faculty-Staff Handbook.

“The University supports the goal of inclusive teaching, and all good teachers strive to ensure that all students have a voice in their classes,” the letter stated. “Undoubtedly, that was Professor Candela’s intent, and we applaud her for it. However, the controversy was not about Professor Candela’s intentions or even her actual teaching practices; it was about the language she included in her syllabus which is inconsistent with Professor Candela’s and [the] University’s obligations under federal law.”

According to the letter, the University never told Candela to change her syllabus, and that was a decision made by Candela herself. The letter also said that Candela never faced any sort of disciplinary action for her syllabus policy, but instead had a conversation with Celia Klin, the dean of Harpur College of Arts and Sciences, about why the language was problematic.

Candela thanked the University, specifically Klin, for checking in on her regularly, but also wanted to place accountability on the administration for how they handled the situation as a whole.

“The University has, thus far, made no declaration recognizing me as a respected and valued member of the University, nor has it made a declaration affirming the principles of academic freedom that protect what we teach and how we teach,” Candela wrote. “While they have shown concern for the fact that my removed web profile communicates mistakenly that I was subjected to disciplinary measures, they have yet to express any concern for the damage to my reputation as a junior scholar without tenure. There is no plan of action in place for mitigating the immeasurable damage to my reputation. That I must face on my own, and that is daunting.”

Candela also spoke at the rally, where she thanked both those in attendance and those who have reached out to her sharing their positive experiences with the progressive stacking policy.

“The syllabus upheaval is not the main issue — it is just the catalyst that has released all the fury that is continuously building on this campus,” Candela said. “Every moment that there is an act of racism, students and faculty rally. Every time that there is an overt case of sexual harassment or violence that gets shared, students and faculty rally. We call for town halls, we call for the administration, we have conversations with them. They start to put out more policies, more statements, more verbiage and it does nothing. It does not change anything. It does nothing to help the people who have to inhabit the lives that are victimized by all of this.”

Gladys Jiménez-Muñoz, an associate professor and chair of the sociology department, also spoke at the rally. Jiménez-Muñoz called for students to be attentive to the dialogue and debate around the issue, and expressed concern for potential implications in the classroom.

“I’m concerned about people telling me what to teach in the classroom and how to do it,” Jiménez-Muñoz said. “I’m concerned about books that can be censored, about issues I cannot talk about. I don’t think that is right.”

Toward the end of the rally, Ibagon thanked other student groups, such as WSU, the Asian Student Union and the Student Association, for putting out statements in support of Candela.

“It’s really overwhelming to see this amount of support from you guys,” Ibagon said. “To [Professor] Candela, even though I did not take your class, I want to thank you for giving the opportunity to women, to Black, Latinx and Asian [and] BIPOC on this campus and other students of color at this predominantly white institution [(PWI)] to have the opportunity to feel comfortable to use their voices and create a space, [in an environment] where we don’t always feel comfortable to say what we want to say. I genuinely wish other professors would implement your practice because I genuinely would feel so much safer that way.”

Jacqueline Frazer, a fifth-year Ph.D. student studying sociology, was one of several students who brought signs to the rally, with hers reading “SUNY BING PROTECTS RACISTS.” Frazer said that she wanted to attend the rally to criticize the administration’s handling of the situation, as well as show support for Candela and her policy.

“I think it’s an inclusive policy that encourages students of color, women and generally shy students to speak up in settings that sometimes don’t allow them to or don’t foster that,” Frazer said. “I don’t think it’s something that’s exclusionary, but inclusionary and that contradicts the narrative that’s coming out from the student that had the problem with it.”

Ah’Janae Johnson, another attendee at the rally and a sophomore majoring in linguistics, also criticized the University’s response to the situation, and said she wanted to attend the rally to let Candela know that students at the University support both her and her progressive stacking policy.

“To hear all the backlash that the professor got was upsetting,” Johnson said. “We don’t have people like that, especially professors at a PWI to protect us, to take care of us and all that stuff. So I wanted to show up, even though I didn’t take the class, to let her know that I was here for her.”

On Wednesday, the Binghamton Police Department (BPD) arrested Yaron “Ron” Kweller, 41, on the charge of rape in the third degree, and Jordan Rindgen, 33, on the charge of criminal sale of a substance in the third and fifth degree, and stated in a press release that another arrest was “expected.” On Monday, Ron Kweller’s brother, Leor Kweller, was also charged with rape in the third degree. Each arrest was in connection with an ongoing investigation regarding an incident that took place Nov. 27 at 141 Washington St.

Leor Kweller, who had turned himself in to BPD on Monday, was charged with raping a 19 year old woman, while Ron Kweller was accused of raping a 21 year old woman, according to binghamtonhomepage.com. All three individuals were arraigned in Binghamton City Court and then released.

Yaron Kweller and Rindgen are owners of The Colonial, a Downtown restaurant frequented by students, also holding ownership shares of Dos Rios Cantina and The Stone Fox. In December, each restaurant had closed following an outpour of sexual assault allegations on social media and the announcement of a BPD investigation, with residents holding a protest outside of the restaurants shortly after. The restaurants had opened again in January, announcing the instatement of several new policies in a statement, including a new management team.

In a statement posted on The Colonial’s Facebook page on Feb. 24, the restaurants announced both Kweller and Rindgen had been removed from operations in December, and that their legal team is “exploring options” in removing them as partners.

“Our remaining group of owners remains focused on earning back the faith and trust of our community, and restoring the restaurants to the positive, energetic members of the revitalized Downtown Binghamton business scene that they were prior to this event,” the statement read. “Please be reminded that, while there are some mutual owners of all three restaurants, each establishment has its own unique ownership group.”

Jared Kraham, mayor of the city of Binghamton — who had previously declined to comment on the investigation — said in a Twitter statement on Wednesday that the arrests are the product of months of investigative work from BPD and the Broome County District Attorney’s Office.

“With today’s arrests, I want to be clear — our community will not tolerate sexual assault anytime, anywhere by anyone,” Kraham wrote. “These charges are serious and beyond disturbing. It’s important to recognize, too, the bravery of sexual assault survivors who come forward under unimaginable circumstances in the pursuit of justice and accountability.”

The “Binghamton Believes Survivors of Sexual Assault” Facebook group, in which many allegations of sexual assault had surfaced in December, currently holds over 14,300 members, including several admins with experience in helping survivors of sexual assault.

Quinn Singer, an admin of the Facebook page, currently works as a volunteer with the Crime and Victims Assistance Center (CVAC), and had previously been working full-time at the organization for years, most recently as the Broome County sexual assault response team coordinator. Singer said she has been in contact with “secondary victims,” or the families of survivors.

Singer said the restaurants should not have reopened, and that despite the new initiatives and statements, the owners had expressed indifference when organizations like CVAC had attempted to work with them before.

“It all feels too little, too late,” Singer said. “I just know firsthand that there were programs that reached out to the bar for incidents like [these]. CVAC had a safer bars program that was pitched specifically to this restaurant group. And it was not something they pursued at the time.”

As information continues to come to light, Singer noted the impact of advocacy and community attention.

“I think that our students on the [BU] campus also have organized and begun advocating like none other in the past few years, and I think that that definitely will have an influence on their ability to remain open as people are arrested and the trial happens and the real details emerge,” Singer said. “I think people are underestimating the fact that details will end up coming out from the case, and it’s not going to end just as they released a statement today — the trial could take years.”

Though many allegations have surfaced publicly on social media, Christine Battisti, CEO of CVAC, said the organization adheres to strict confidentiality protocols with survivors, and that it aims to provide a comforting environment to any survivors.

“That’s all part of coming here, empowering victims to be a part of the outcome and how their case proceeds and to give them choices in the matter — because sometimes victims are powerless because something happened to them,” Battisti said. “They didn’t have control over that. So part of what we work with is we try to give victims control over the decisions that they make about their case.”

Kweller’s attorney, Paul Battisti, who ran as the Republican candidate for Broome County District Attorney in 2020, is the husband of Christine. Battisti said the connection would not impact either of their work, stating she had worked at CVAC for 18 years, serving clients in various roles with no issue.

“I don’t think there’s a conflict of interest at all,” Battisti said. “Paul is a defense attorney and has his own rules and regulations and ethics that he has to provide to his clients and CVAC has theirs. And we adhere to confidentiality, and we take that very seriously.”

Jordan Rindgen is represented by Thomas Jackson, who had formerly served as senior assistant district attorney in 2008.

On campus, various student organizations made public statements regarding the situation in December, including a call for a boycott of the restaurants by the Student Association (SA) and the Women’s Student Union.

Samantha Carroll, the SA vice president for student success and a junior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, wrote the SA Executive Board is relieved to see that “punitive legal measures” are being taken against Kweller and Rindgen.

“That being said, we recognize that many in the community may still not be satisfied with this, and may still feel uncomfortable given the restaurants’ presence downtown,” Carroll wrote. “We want to reiterate that survivors of sexual assault always have our support, and we will continue to do everything in our power to make all students feel safe.”

Carroll also emphasized that the SA stands in solidarity with anyone impacted by these events and that there are resources available on and off campus to students who may be struggling or are in need of support.

Other student groups like Domestic and Oppressive Violence Education (DOVE) — an organization that aims to educate students on forms of interpersonal violence, including sexual assault — want students who may feel unsafe in Downtown Binghamton after the news of the arrests to know that they should remain supportive of each other.

“The fact that so many young women have reportedly come forward highlights the importance of learning the warning signs of sexual abuse, keeping each other safe and ultimately speaking up when you see something wrong,” the DOVE E-Board wrote in an email.

Paul Battisti, The Colonial, Dos Rios Cantina and The Stone Fox declined to comment.

This is a developing story, which will be updated as Pipe Dream receives more information from witnesses and authorities. This story was last updated on 3/1/2022 with further information regarding a third arrest.

If you or someone you know is the victim of sexual assault, harassment or anything related, the Violence, Abuse and Rape Crisis Center (VARCC) or the Crime Victims Assistance Center (CVAC) are available resources. CVAC is located at 377 Robinson St. in Binghamton and can be reached by phone at (607) 722-4256 for a 24/7 crisis support line or by text at (607) 725-8196. CVAC services are also available at the VARCC office, which is located on the third floor of Old Johnson Hall and can be reached by phone at (607) 777-3010.

Pipe Dream was in contact with sexual assault survivors who opted not to share their story with the media out of a concern for their safety. Those interested in sharing their experiences can contact news@bupipedream.com.

As of last week, the overdose spike is over. In Broome County, an overdose spike is when there are two or more fatal overdoses within a 24 hour period or four nonfatal overdoses in a 24 hour period. According to Jared Kraham, mayor of Binghamton, there have been 47 overdoses this year in the city of Binghamton, with 28 of those occurring in a two-week period leading up to Feb. 10. As of Feb. 17, there have been 12 suspected fatal overdoses in Broome County this year, with eight occurring in the month of January and four occurring in February, according to Marissa Knapp, the opioid overdose prevention coordinator at the Broome County Health Department.

Local health officials believe the uptick in overdoses is a result of the drug fentanyl being combined with other drugs. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is being combined with all classes of drugs, such as heroin, cocaine, counterfeit pills and more. It is often mixed in with the drugs, and users may not realize they are consuming it.

“My message above all was a compassionate one,” Kraham said. “If students have a family member, a loved one, a friend, coworker or a fellow student who they know might be using street drugs, [which] would include any type of pills — that would include heroin, fentanyl — there is a very dangerous product on the street today, and it is deadly. Now, we certainly have not seen any evidence that there are overdoses [among] university students, so I do not want to cause concern or alarm when there is none. But the opioid epidemic affects people regardless of geography, socioeconomic status [and] race. This is still an epidemic that is very much at the forefront of our public health.”

The Broome County Health Department is also urging those who use drugs to have naloxone on hand, also referred to as a Narcan kit, a medicine used to treat opioid overdoses — even if they have no intentions of using opioids. Due to New York State’s Naloxone Co-payment Assistance Program, community members can pick up Narcan kits at local pharmacies with no prior prescription, but residents are encouraged to call the pharmacy ahead to ensure availability, according to the Broome County Health Department’s website.

Alexis Pleus, the executive director and founder of Truth Pharm — a local nonprofit, anti-harm organization that seeks to educate, inform and empower people to make healthier decisions around their substance use — said she believes students should know how to recognize and reverse an opioid overdose and recognize the dangers of fentanyl.

“For people who do not normally use opioids, fentanyl carries a higher risk because those people do not have a tolerance to opioids built up,” Pleus wrote in an email. “The current drug supply has been highly irregular and dangerous. Students should also be aware that we have had several overdoses due to counterfeit pills having fentanyl in them, and the people buying the pills did not know they were counterfeit because they look just like the real pharmaceutical pills.”

The Broome County Health Department is also urging people to use fentanyl test strips before ingesting any recreational drugs. Test strips can be found at local organizations such as Truth Pharm, the Addiction Center of Broome County and the Southern Tier AIDS Program.

Knapp encouraged students who are using drugs to practice harm reduction measures each time they use.

“We are seeing overdoses with a population that wouldn’t normally have a Narcan kit,” Knapp said. “We are really making sure that people understand if you are using any substance, it is really important that you practice harm reduction measures. That means to not use alone because if you use alone and overdose, there is no one else there with you to revive you or call 911.”

Knapp also said it is important that students know that under New York State’s Good Samaritan Law, they can call 911 without fear of arrest if they are having or are witnessing someone having a drug or alcohol overdose.

Samantha Carroll, the Student Association (SA) vice president for student success and a junior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, said she believes the Good Samaritan Law is just one of many resources students should know about.

“The most important thing students should keep in mind is that [BU] has the resources they need to be safe in the midst of this situation,” Carroll wrote. “One especially helpful resource is the Narcan trainings made available monthly from the [School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences]. A mere 30 minutes on Zoom gives you the knowledge you need to save someone’s life, and I believe they have Narcan for trained students to keep with them in case of an emergency.”

As a certified Opioid Overdose Prevention site by the New York State Department of Health, BU is able to distribute Narcan to trained individuals.

Knapp said students should remember that an opioid overdose can impact anyone.

“I think the most important thing that we always say is everyone is just one decision away from being in a life-or-death situation,” Knapp said. “Substance use disorders don’t discriminate.”

If you are experiencing an emergency, Harpur’s Ferry can be reached at 607-777-3333. Students struggling with addiction can reach out to the campus recovery support group (busober@binghamton.edu). Other on-campus resources include the Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Office, the Consultation, Advocacy, Referral and Education (CARE) Team and Decker Student Health Services.

Off campus resources include Truth Pharm and the Addiction Center of Broome County. United Health Services (UHS) provides free overdose prevention training and naloxone kits to the public. Those interested can call (607) 762-2622, Monday – Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to receive training over the phone. Staff will arrange contact-free pickup of naloxone for those in need. More information on services provided by the UHS can be found here.

BU President Harvey Stenger first announced in the fall of 2020 that the VARCC would be created after students demanded better access to sexual assault reporting services on campus. It is located on the third floor of Old Johnson Hall, with hours posted on the VARCC website: https://www.binghamton.edu/centers/varcc. The VARCC connects students with a number of campus resources, such as the Office of Student Conduct, Residential Life, Binghamton’s New York State University Police (UPD), a sexual assault advocate and more.

The VARCC also offers a safe space for survivors of interpersonal violence where students can receive support after incidents of sexual violence. According to the website, the safe space is an area in the VARCC where students can use art supplies, talk to students who have similar experiences and be together in a relaxed environment.

Anna Jantz, the case management coordinator for the Consultation, Advocacy, Referral and Education (CARE) team and a VARCC staff member, wants students to know that the VARCC is dedicated to helping students that come to them in need of assistance.

“As a new resource, one of our biggest first steps is for students to know that the [VARCC] exists and is here to help,” Jantz wrote. “The VARCC is a collaboration of a number of resources such as the CARE team, the University Counseling Center [(UCC)], Crime Victims Assistance Center [(CVAC)] and Title IX. Although these resources have been around for many years, the VARCC helps us serve students in a more interconnected way. Right now the VARCC is working to make the space as warm and friendly as possible with new student art.”

Students can request an appointment with the VARCC through filling out an online appointment form on the “Contact” page of its website (hyperlink for online article: https://www.binghamton.edu/centers/varcc/contact.html). On the form, students can select which resources they would like to find out more about or get in contact with. Students looking for a consultation may contact the CARE Team via phone, Zoom or email.

According to BingUNews (hyperlink for online article: https://www.binghamton.edu/news/story/2890/binghamton-university-establishing-violence-abuse-and-rape-crisis-center), the VARCC is a singular place for students to report incidents of sexual violence. By coordinating services, the VARCC hopes to lessen the trauma that comes with repeating their story to multiple offices.

“The VARCC’s work is centered in empowerment,” Jantz wrote. “We believe that students should be able to know their options so they can make the best decisions for themselves. No matter if a student goes through a formal reporting process or not there is support for them. All those who have been impacted by interpersonal or sexual violence deserve respect and care.”

If you or someone you know is the victim of sexual assault, harassment or anything related, the CVAC and the VARCC are available resources. CVAC is located at 377 Robinson St. in Binghamton, and can be reached by phone at (607) 722-4256 for a 24/7 crisis support line or by texting (607) 725-8196. CVAC services are also available at the VARCC office, which is located on the third floor of Old Johnson Hall and can be reached by phone at (607) 777-3010.

More information about the VARCC can be found on its website.

The Bias Incident Response Team (BIRT) is made up of campus community members, including representatives from multiple campus departments, who convene to make sure that those who report bias incidents and have been impacted by bias incidents have access to the proper help they need on campus. This includes access to reporting mechanisms, resources and support. The BIRT itself does not investigate these incidents, and just provides support to those impacted by them.

According to the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s (DEI) website, BIRTs are becoming increasingly common on college campuses to provide members of the community with an “inclusive and safe place to work, live and learn,” and can help encourage people to speak up about incidents of hate or bias to foster more inclusive environments.

Karen Jones, the vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion, wrote in an email that even though the bias reporting program is not new at BU, there have been several changes made to the process.

“We have a new affirmative action officer, Ada Robinson-Perez, who in addition to other responsibilities, is now responsible for managing the University’s response to bias incidents; to review the report to determine if a bias incident has occurred, and where appropriate, redirect for adjudication,” Jones wrote. “Further, we have updated our website as it is important to inform the campus community as to the process, as well as to include definitions as to what constitutes bias, harassment, etc. These updates are the results of a division review as well as recommendations from the campus community.”

Robinson-Perez also plans on hosting monthly workshops on the reporting process so the campus community can remain informed on how to report incidents and what happens once incidents are reported.

“The bias incident reporting process continues to present opportunities to create a more safe and inclusive campus environment for all students, faculty and staff,” Robinson-Perez wrote in an email.

Jaclyn Tung, a first-year graduate student studying accounting, thinks work needs to continue to be done to help members of the campus community, and that this initiative cannot be the end of the University’s push to stop bias incidents on campus.

“I believe that this is a good way to start to reduce and eliminate bias incidents on campus,” Tung said. “But ultimately more needs to continue to be done. If the culture of bias and discrimination doesn’t change, then this won’t have much of an impact.”

Gel Castronova, a senior majoring in English, said they are happy that the University is showing signs that it is more dedicated to helping those who are impacted by bias incidents.

“I think it’s great that the University is implementing this system,” Castronova said. “I’m a senior, so I wish something like this was here earlier.”

The message from BU President Harvey Stenger announced that the start date of the semester will be pushed back, with classes starting on Jan. 25 instead of Jan. 18. The end date of the semester will also be pushed back five class days, with the new last day of classes being May 11. The new final exam period is May 13 to May 19, and commencement will now be held from May 20 to May 22.

The Omicron variant has sparked new guidelines and a renewed focus on the COVID-19 pandemic across the United States. In New York state, the seven-day average for new COVID-19 cases has reached 21,717 — the highest number since the start of the pandemic. While infectivity is at an all-time high, deaths have not spiked at this time and the seven-day average deaths for the state currently sits at 61.

This announcement comes one day after a new academic calendar with a Jan. 25 start date was posted on the University’s website with numerous errors, such as scheduling all final examinations in one day and no changes made to the date of commencement to reflect the new start date.

In the B-Line News Addition, Stenger also encouraged all students to self-test before returning to campus, with off-campus students recommended to test negative 72 hours before returning to their in-person classes. On-campus residents will be required to be test negative on campus before moving into their dorms and attending in-person classes.

“We strongly encourage on-campus residents to self-test before returning to campus and to remain at home if they test positive to avoid having to return home immediately upon arrival,” Stenger wrote. “Move-in to campus residence halls will occur from Jan. 20-23. All residential students will then be tested for COVID-19 at the campus Surveillance Testing Center in Old Union Hall in the [University] Union prior to being allowed to move into their rooms. Any student who tests positive will be required to return home or will be placed in campus isolation housing if it is not possible to return home.”

According to the announcement, more surveillance testing will take place this coming semester, available to both on- and off-campus students. Students will be informed in advance what weeks they will be tested, with vaccinated students being expected to be tested once per month. Unvaccinated students will still be required to get tested weekly.

This is a developing story. Pipe Dream will update this story as more information becomes available.

The event, titled “Downtown Shutdown,” was started on Facebook and was shared in “Binghamton Believes Survivors of Sexual Assault,” a group created for members of the community to share their experiences at the restaurants, including instances of alleged sexual assault and drugging and a call for a boycott of the establishments.

Allegations against owners of Dos Rios Cantina, The Colonial and The Stone Fox surfaced online on Wednesday. The restaurants originally announced in a since-deleted Facebook post that they would be closed while an internal investigation was conducted. On Friday, The Colonial made another post explaining their decision to reopen for Friday night, which has also been deleted.

Jackie Timm, a senior majoring in human development and a former employee at The Colonial who attended the protest, said she chose to quit after the allegations surfaced.

“On Friday, [The Colonial] announced they were gonna shut down and then they were like, ‘Never mind, we’re reopening up,’ and they started calling the claims frivolous and baseless,” Timm said. “They were acting like they were all just rumors and a lot of employees got really upset. They said they were going to shut down and still pay us but we ended up just quitting anyway once they announced they were going to open back up. None of us want to work for them after that.”

Katharine Mayer, a junior majoring in business administration and a former employee at The Stone Fox, said she also decided to quit after hearing about the allegations.

“The managers at The Colonial were calling the claims rumors and they were telling their workers that they were untrue,” Mayer said. “Our group chat [at The Stone Fox] wasn’t that communicative. One of the owners did speak out about it. Everyone just started quitting, especially since we’re all connected, we felt very disrespected that they were calling them rumors and they were saying they’re untrue, especially after [multiple people] spoke out and they’re still calling them rumors. And they tried to reopen The Colonial last night, which is absurd. They didn’t actually open. It’s dangerous for their workers, too. How dare they have people go in?”

Protestors gathered at 8:15 p.m. in front of Dos Rios Cantina and marched through Downtown Binghamton. They began their march at Court Street, proceeded in a loop down State Street and Hawley Street and ended at XTASY Restaurant & Lounge on Court Street before heading back to the front of Dos Rios Cantina and The Colonial to gather and listen to members of the crowd share their stories.

An organizer of the protest, who wished to remain anonymous, spoke as people gathered at the beginning of the event, letting survivors know that they had support from the community and the importance of organizing in Binghamton.

“The only reason they shut their shit down is because of community pressure,” she said. “How many times did they say they were gonna reopen? They understand that people have power. When we organize, we have power. When we come together, we have power. We’re here to uplift survivors. We’re here to tell them that they’re not alone. We’re here to let them know we will fight with them. We’re here to let them know that we got their back. We’re here to let them know that they are not alone in this.”

When the group passed by XTASY Restaurant & Lounge, some people entered the establishment and continued chanting inside. Afterward, marchers left and continued their march back to Court Street.

During the march, protestors chanted slogans such as “Whose streets? Our streets,” “Who shut shit down? We shut shit down” and “Who keep us safe? We keep us safe.” People also carried signs, with some saying, “Protect survivors not rapists” and “End rape culture.”

Sarah Tartell, a sophomore majoring in biology who held a sign that said “Fuck the patriarchy” at the protest, said she wanted to emphasize the importance of believing victims.

“I thought it was really important to stand in solidarity with all the victims who were affected by this awful, awful thing,” Tartell said. “It’s horrendous. I think in recent years it’s important to do anything we can to move this movement forward and fight and support victims.”

Chloe Levine, a senior majoring in linguistics, said she felt it was important for students to remember that they are a part of the Binghamton community and engage in local organizing.

“I think that it’s really important to be here because these are big establishments in Downtown Binghamton that a lot of students frequent,” Levine said. “They’re a really big part of the Binghamton community as a whole and the fact that this behavior has been going in here for years unchecked is disgusting. I’m glad that people can come together like this to do something about it.”

“Downtown Shutdown” ended with an hourlong speak-out where people shared their own stories of rape, sexual assault, misconduct and harassment along with former employees of Dos Rios Cantina, The Colonial and The Stone Fox who spoke on the work atmospheres of the restaurants. An organizer of the event spoke at the beginning, encouraging community members to continue boycotting these establishments.

The organizer then spoke on the importance of believing the stories of victims of sexual assault and community organizing.

“We don’t need a fucking video to believe that somebody has been violated,” she said. “We don’t have to be there to believe that somebody’s been violated. When somebody tells you they’ve been violated you should just believe we have to act. We have to stop asking questions. Nobody deserves to be violated in any circumstances.”

If you or someone you know is the victim of sexual assault, harassment or anything related, the Crime Victims Assistance Center (CVAC) or the Violence, Abuse and Rape Crisis Center (VARCC) are available resources. CVAC is located at 377 Robinson St. in Binghamton and can be reached by phone at (607) 722-4256 for a 24/7 crisis support line or by text at (607) 725-8196. CVAC services are also available at the VARCC office, which is located on the third floor of Old Johnson Hall and can be reached by phone at (607) 777-3010.

Pipe Dream was in contact with sexual assault survivors who opted not to share their story with the media out of a concern for their safety. Those interested in sharing their experiences can contact news@bupipedream.com.

Late Nite Service was canceled two weeks ago, after the Student Association (SA) and OCCT had warned students repeatedly that noncompliance with OCCT’s rules would result in the suspension of the service. Student noncompliance included multiple incidents of verbal assaults, throwing of objects and damaging of OCCT property.

According to a statement released by the SA and OCCT, this service will remain “probationary” for the remainder of the fall 2021 semester, with OCCT saying that it reserves the right to cancel these routes at any time.

Jake Abrams, ‘20, public relations coordinator for OCCT, said the Late Nite routes will be reinstated due to recent positive changes in student behavior.

“A noticeable uptick in mask compliance, appreciation and regard for the safety and health protocols implemented for riders and respect for OCCT personnel administering these policies was a significant contributing factor to the decision to reinstate Late Nite Services,” Abrams wrote in an email. “That, coupled with the decrease in aggression, rowdiness and hostility our drivers and buses face made us cautiously optimistic in resuming OCCT Late Nite Service.”

Abrams also wrote that OCCT will be monitoring all Late Nite bus footage, and if any instances of “disrespect, disregard and mistreatment” occur again, OCCT will cancel Late Nite Service for the duration of the semester.

David Hatami, SA president, CEO of OCCT and a senior double-majoring in political science and business administration, said he felt it was important that students continue following the rules and safety protocols set in place by OCCT, so these services can continue for everyone who needs them.

“Despite service being canceled only about two weeks ago, we have seen a positive change in student behavior on our buses, particularly on our evening weekend routes,” Hatami wrote in an email. “While some would argue this may not be enough time to determine a long-term change in student conduct, our team understands the value that our Late Nite routes bring to our students, and think it would mean a lot to our student body to provide the routes for Halloween.”

Hatami also said that OCCT and the SA will not hesitate to cancel the service again if student behavior regresses to what it was like at the beginning half of the semester.

“However, the probationary nature of these routes means that if we see a negative turn in student behavior once again, we will be quick to terminate the routes once again immediately and at any point,” Hatami wrote. “If numerous instances of harmful student behavior are reported, another cancellation can happen as soon as this Saturday and will most likely come without much prior warning, unlike our previous decisions.”

Kelsie Keuerleber, a senior majoring in psychology, said she’s happy Late Nite Service will be brought back, but agreed that student behavior must improve.

“I’m very apprehensive about Late Night Service being brought back,” Keuerleber said. “I don’t think it’s been long enough to determine if the students have truly gotten better, and I think that they will be especially out of hand during Halloween weekend.”

Salenna Weiner, a senior majoring in integrative neuroscience, uses the buses frequently to get back and forth from campus and her apartment, and is also concerned about other students’ behavior resulting in the cancellation of the routes that she needs.

“I live off campus and I don’t drive, so I rely on the buses to get home when I stay on campus late on weekends,” said Weiner. “But I think the mistreatment of the student bus staff is completely out of hand, and that they don’t deserve to be verbally abused by students.”

Members of the Binghamton University LGBTQ+ community got together to show their pride at the University’s annual pride march after a postponement last year due to COVID-19.

The fourth-annual pride march, which was held on Monday for National Coming Out Day, started at 6 p.m. on the Peace Quad and featured student speakers from LGBTQ+ organizations on campus as well as professional staff from the Q Center. Student speakers included Soledad Arianna Perez, a senior majoring in Spanish, from SHADES, an organization for LGBTQ+ students of color, and Elizabeth Wang, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering, from Out in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (oSTEM), an organization for LGBTQ+ students who major in or have an interest in STEM fields.

Nic Francisco, coordinator of the Q Center, talked about their coming out journey to the crowd, and how they have spent their life coming out in different ways to different people.

“I imagine some of you might think, ‘Do people even need to come out anymore?’” Francisco said. “And to that I [emphatically] say, ‘Yes!’ We come out not because we like labels, we come out not because we want to rigidly define ourselves into categories, but because we are already categorized and already labeled every day. We live in a world that assumes that we’re straight unless we say otherwise. We live in a world that assumes that we are women if we have long hair and were born with the name ‘Nichole.’”

After their speech, Francisco led the students in attendance on a march around campus, going from their location on the Peace Quad, around some of the Brain and down the Spine. As they marched down campus, they chanted slogans that spoke out against homophobia and transphobia.

Another speaker at the event was Nicholas Martin, assistant director of the Q Center. Martin shared his story with the crowd and talked about how he was excited to start his new position at BU.

“I’ve only been here for about two weeks now,” Martin said. “But I have been at universities before that have marches on National Coming Out Day, and I think it’s important to show to everybody that maybe isn’t out to everyone in their lives, or is still exploring their identity, that it’s okay to be unsure, and that they can find community within this type of march.”

Julia Saltzman, a graduate student assistant at the Q Center in the master’s of public administration program, also spoke about how important it was for students to find community, especially during LGBT History Month.

“Across the nation, October is [LGBT History Month],” Saltzman said. “This is done not only because it coincides with National Coming Out Day, but also because in June we aren’t typically here [on campus]. We don’t get the chance to celebrate Pride in the way that we at the University and at the Q Center believe that it should be celebrated. This event is so important because it doesn’t only celebrate those that just came out, but the entire queer community.”

Many students were also at the march celebrating their identities or their allyship, such as Bug Tremblay, an undeclared freshman. Tremblay spoke about how this event was important to them as a new student discovering community at the University.

“Being queer and being nonbinary is a big part of who I am and how I express myself,” Tremblay said. “It’s very important for me to be here and show pride, especially for those who aren’t able to be here or be as loudly proud about themselves because they’re in a bad situation or not comfortable sharing that yet, and I want to be here for them.”

On Saturday, Garbanzo’s Mediterranean Grill had its grand opening on the third floor of the new dining hall. Garbanzo’s Mediterranean Grill is a build-your-own bowl- or pita-style grill, where students can order a variety of meats, vegetables and sauces, and is the first Mediterranean food option on campus.

The food available at the grill includes steak and gyro meat, sides such as falafel, fresh-baked pita and shawarma-seasoned fries and chips. All of these options come in different styles of entrees, such as handmade stuffed pitas, salads and laffas — or wraps — as well as traditional gyros.

John Enright, the general manager of resident dining at Binghamton University, said the Garbanzo’s Mediterranean Grill opening will appease the campus community’s desire for a Mediterranean dining option.

“The well-rounded menu [at Garbanzo’s Mediterranean Grill] offers a variety of both vegan and vegetarian options as well as freshly grilled chicken, steak and gyro,” Enright wrote. “The Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh brand is the result of the efforts of the Student Culinary Council’s student survey, which asked [BU] students what top-choice cuisines they would like to see brought to campus. After great efforts from our Physical Facilities department to get all of the equipment installed and operational, and our efforts to get the restaurant properly staffed and trained, we are proud to say that Noah Sibley, restaurant manager, and his team [opened] on [Sept. 25].”

Garbanzo’s Mediterranean Grill is the second retail option in the dining hall, and is a floor above the new Starbucks and regular dining area. It will be directly next to the outdoor terrace seating area, which is still under construction.

Despite being located in Hinman Dining Center, the grill opened almost a month after the rest of the facilities in the building. The students that attended the grand opening of Garbanzo’s Mediterranean Grill, however, said they thought that the food was worth the wait.

Olivia Ames, a junior majoring in anthropology, said she and her friend were looking forward to the opening and arrived at 11:30 a.m. when the grill first opened to ensure that they would be some of the first to try out the new food.

“I got the chips, which have shawarma seasoning on them, with a side of tzatziki sauce,” Ames said. “They were also giving out free falafel samples, so I got that, too. I think the food is great.”

Matt Tuczinski, an undeclared freshman who lives in Hinman College, said he’s been waiting for Garbanzo’s Mediterranean Grill to open its doors and that he enjoyed his meal too.

“I got a gyro and I thought it was pretty good,” Tuczinski said. “It had a good amount of flavor and the meat was really tender. I thought the vegetables were very fresh, too.”

Also looking forward to the opening was Gavin Code, a junior majoring in biochemistry. Code was the first customer at Garbanzo’s Mediterranean Grill, and the restaurant team gave him a free Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh hat as thanks, which he wore while eating his meal.

Code came to the opening with his friends, who all said they enjoyed the food and that it was comparable to Greek and Mediterranean food that they’ve had in the past.

“I’m Greek and so my grandma makes a lot of Mediterranean food,” Code said. “She doesn’t really make meat-based food since she’s vegan, but they’re advertising their freshness and it shows in their meals.”

Garbanzo’s Mediterranean Grill is located on the third floor of Hinman Dining Center and will be open Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Find out more about Garbanzo’s Mediterranean Grill here.

The event, titled “The 3 Rs: The Road to Reparations and Reconciliation,” was hosted by the BU Harriet Tubman Center for the Study of Freedom and Equity as part of an ongoing conversation the University is having about truth and reconciliation. This includes the Tubman Center’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which has been looking at issues of race on BU’s campus both in the present and the past by listening to those whose voices have gone unheard. Berry was the former chairperson of the United States Civil Rights Commission, and Robertson-Hickling is a senior lecturer of human resource management at the Mona School of Business and Management at the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica, and an author who has written over 20 scholarly journals about topics such as migration and its impact on mental health. The event had 12 co-sponsors, including the BU President’s Office and the Multicultural Resource Center. The discussion was the inaugural webinar of “The 3 Rs” series from the Tubman Center and will feature more speakers in the future, such as Calvin Mackie, who will be speaking on April 14.

Anne Bailey, director of the Tubman Center and professor of history at BU, hoped that this event and others will help educate the BU community on issues such as reparations and begin discussions about what the University can and should do to begin to reconcile racial issues.

“As part of the truth and reconciliation process, we want to start a conversation,” Bailey said. “We want to think global but start local. We have people like [Berry], an internationally known civil rights icon, to bring that global perspective, but we also have [Robertson-Hickling] who helps us think globally as well. She is a Caribbean scholar who is very dedicated to issues of reparations.”

At the discussion, both Robertson-Hickling and Berry spoke about reparations and answered audience questions about issues such as restorative justice, a system of criminal justice that focuses on rehabilitation through reconciliation with victims and the community and colonialism.

Robertson-Hickling teaches behavioral sciences and general management and has written about the Caribbean diaspora and its impacts on mental health. Her talk, titled “Repairers of the Breach From the Personal to the National,” discussed the impact that issues of racism can have on an individual, stressed the importance of reparations and implored young people to find solutions to these issues.

“Part of the challenge we have is that we have to be able to admit that a wrong has been done,” Robertson-Hickling said. “We’re not saying that people are going to be taking responsibility for what their great-grandparents did, but we are also saying that if you’re a beneficiary [of their actions] you have to acknowledge it.”

Berry, an internationally known civil rights activist and one of the founders of the Free South Africa Movement, a group credited with helping end apartheid, and former chairperson of the United States Civil Rights Commission over the course of four presidential administrations, spoke after Robertson-Hickling and gave a talk called, “Is There a Case for African American Reparations?”

This comes as the House Judiciary Committee plans to vote on House Resolution (H.R.) 40 within the next week. H.R. 40 seeks to create a commission that will look at the effect of slavery and develop reparations proposals. The bill has been introduced numerous times during its 30-year history, but Berry believes that it has a chance of being seriously considered and passed this time.

“If we kept the momentum up, we might be able to get a bill passed with H.R. 40, which has been reintroduced again in the Congress of the United States,” Berry said. “But there’s a problem, though. If we put too much emphasis on the political process and say that voting will lead us to ‘the promised land’ and don’t continue the counter-protests that we have had, we might not be able to win on these issues.”

Berry believes that monetary reparations should be given to descendants of former slaves in the United States because of the long-term harm that slavery has caused over generations.

“The short answer is reparations are owed because of the continuing harm done to slave descendants, but not just because they’re slave descendants,” Berry said. “But because of the manifestations of continuing denial of potential and a continuing abuse that has been done. That is the reason why. But who should give reparations and why? Anyone who benefited from that harm.”

Richard Chow, a senior majoring in business administration, attended the talk. Chow spoke in favor of reparations, stating that only by talking to each other and listening to others will a more inclusive environment be created.

“The case for reparations does not exclude the struggles and difficulties that people are facing nowadays,” Chow wrote in an email. “It speaks upon the historical injustices of slavery, redlining and discrimination. It’s about righting a wrong that caused an entire race of Americans to be at a socioeconomic disadvantage for hundreds of years. In fact, the effects of slavery and Jim Crow can still be felt today.”

Baaba Annan, a first-year graduate student studying human rights, said she was happy to see such a big turnout for the event.

“I believe it shows how much support we have for the work the [Tubman Center] is doing on campus,” Annan wrote in an email. “I hope people were able to take away that action has an immense impact on healing. There can be no true reconciliation without actually putting in the work to improve people’s experience. That is what we are implementing with our panels. We are listening to what people say and are turning those words into actionable items for the University to commit to. I want everyone to know that the work is going to take continuous time and effort. [Berry] said it so well, we have to keep fighting and never stop.”

The Central Park Five were a group of 14- to 16-year-old Black and Latino teenagers who were convicted of attacking and raping Trisha Meili, a white female jogger, in Central Park in 1989. The case made national news, and the young men were demonized throughout many New York publications, with much of the vitriol stemming from the fact that they were young men of color, and Meili was a white woman. They were coerced into confessing to the crime by police. Years later, DNA proved their innocence, and they were exonerated.

The group sued New York City for discrimination and emotional distress, which the city settled for $41 million. The group spent sentences ranging from 5–15 years in prison, with Salaam serving six years and eight months. Their story has been told in multiple documentaries and shows, including Ken Burns’ documentary “The Central Park Five” and Ava DuVernay’s Emmy award-winning limited series “When They See Us.” Salaam’s advocacy and educational work has led him to receive the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award from former President Barack Obama and become a board member of the Innocence Project, a nonprofit organization aimed at exonerating individuals who claim they were wrongly convicted.

The event, co-hosted by the Black Student Union (BSU) and the Student Association (SA) Programming Board, was originally planned for the spring semester of 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was canceled and rescheduled for one year later.

Sophia Cavalluzzi, SA vice president for programming and a senior majoring in English, said that despite the postponement, she was excited to attend and co-host the lecture this year.

“This was one of our most highly anticipated shows, and people were very excited to attend,” Cavalluzzi wrote in an email. “I feel very lucky that such a great show was planned by my predecessor and that we are able to host it now! We are also super grateful that we got to partner with the [BSU] and have them moderate the show.”

Salaam is an avid supporter of civil rights education. He believes education and conversations about Black history and racial inequality should be a year-round conversation for future generations.

“We can’t just be relegated to the shortest month in the year where we do deep dives in Black history,” Salaam said. “All throughout the year, we should be talking about the great inventions, we should be talking about the excellence of who came here. Because, as Dr. John Henrik Clarke said, ‘If you begin peoples’ history with slavery, everything else looks like progress.’ You did not bring slaves to America, you brought people who would be able to think to America. You brought people who would be able to invent to America. You brought kings and queens and princes and princesses to America. You brought warriors to America.”

Kendra Gourgue, vice president of BSU and a junior majoring in English, helped moderate the event by introducing Salaam and asking questions throughout the evening. Gourgue also helped create dialogues by responding to Salaam’s answers to questions on Black life and history in America.

“Us planting the seeds for the future is something that we can argue our people have been doing for forever, educating each other,” Gourgue said. “I think we’ve always had an oral history, and now it’s about acclimating further, taking those extra steps, planting more trees. And I think it’s beautiful to sit in that sometimes, knowing that we are a product of the work and the love and the tradition that’s been carried on throughout us and only us, time and after time again.”

Tim Markbreiter, a junior majoring in political science, attended the event and enjoyed the questions that BSU asked Salaam as well as his answers on current events affecting the Black community in America, such as last year’s Black Lives Matter protests.

“[Salaam] was answering a question about the Black Lives Matter movement, and specifically the protests this summer, and he cited Newton’s third law of motion which states that every action has an equal opposite reaction,” Markbreiter wrote. “I thought this [was] a really great way to put into perspective the anger and frustration that’s felt among Black Americans in this country regarding systematic oppression.”

Through a $1,000 grant from the American Library Association to help address the climate crisis, the BU Libraries are hosting various events, such as a virtual panel discussion with local experts. In addition to their designation as a Climate Resilience Hub, BU Libraries is collaborating with the MRC to create a food drive to assist with donations for the Bear Necessities Food Pantry from Feb. 1 to March 12.

Through this grant, the BU Libraries aim to help students who are struggling and help destigmatize the need for food support.

Jennifer Embree, biology and psychology librarian at BU and one of the librarians who initially applied for the grant, hopes that the drive will help students further understand the link between climate change and access to healthy food — not just for certain communities, but for everyone.

“We want to raise awareness about climate change’s impact on food security because we believe it to be one of the most concerning factors that our planet is currently facing and will continue to face for years to come,” Embree wrote in an email. “Climate change is having, and will have, a significant impact on the world’s food security because of rising temperatures, precipitation changes and a great frequency in extreme weather events. These factors can lead to changes in food availability, access and utilization across the globe.”

Linda Salomons, food pantry coordinator at BU, wants students to know that the University is dedicated to helping out students who struggle with food security issues. She said she feels this is especially relevant since many students may have lost their jobs or have reduced hours because of the COVID-19 pandemic and need the extra help to get by. However, climate change has also been impacting food supply and food security this past year.

“It’s important for students to understand that climate change can have an impact on food, if we can get healthy food for our pantry users [and] how much is available to us,” Salomons said. “Climate change affects so many things, including hitting those who are struggling with food insecurity.”

Matthew Pangburn, a sophomore double-majoring in political science and history, volunteers with the Bear Necessities Food Pantry and wants students to know that the pantry can help provide food and personal hygiene products to those who have trouble getting access to them.

“Food insecurity, specifically on college campuses, is an enormously underreported issue,” Pangburn said. “Being food insecure oftentimes can lead to students not performing as well academically or able to engage in social functions with friends. As you can imagine, not knowing if you have enough food to survive or where your next meal is coming from would be the most primary concern for you. The pantry offers our services as a way to help alleviate that stress and concern, allowing students to focus on things like school, activities and just trying to have the best experience possible at [BU].”

According to their website, the BU Libraries believe that climate change and food security issues often affect underserved populations and communities. At BU, the groups affected most by climate change are international students, the LGBTQ+ community and racial minorities. They are often left out of the conversation surrounding sustainability, according to a news release on BU Libraries’ website.

The MRC is committed to serving these groups, and Richie Sebuharara, assistant director of the MRC, believes that access to food can be different for those in certain communities in the Binghamton area that can be classified as food deserts, or areas that don’t have many, if any, supermarkets and grocery stores and little access to healthy food.

“One of the things that we’ve discussed with [BU Libraries] is the areas in Binghamton that don’t have supermarkets and grocery stores, such as the North Side of Binghamton,” Sebuharara said. “Some areas that might have residents in a lower socioeconomic class don’t have the same opportunities for food as areas with residents of a higher class.”

Embree also hopes that the food drive can help the BU community become more aware of food security issues that some students, staff and Binghamton residents face daily.

“I hope that students, faculty and staff will be able to gain more awareness about the issue of food insecurity in general, and I also hope that students will learn about really useful resources that can help support them if they are experiencing food insecurity themselves,” Embree wrote. “We also hope that this food drive will help promote a more open, understanding and judgement-free approach to discussing and addressing food support for students on campus.”

For those who want to learn more about the links between food insecurity, college students and climate change, follow @bingulibraries on Instagram for more information and weekly posts about the drive.

Jackson White, a junior majoring in philosophy, politics and law (PPL), was the Democratic nominee for Broome County’s first legislative district, an area encompassing the towns of Colesville, Fenton, portions of the town of Kirkwood and the city of Binghamton. He lost the race to incumbent Republican Stephen Flagg, receiving 26 percent of the vote.

White was raised in Broome County and the greater Binghamton area and has been politically active since his high school years. He began his involvement with local politics in 2016, when he worked for Democrat Kim Myers’ congressional campaign against Republican Claudia Tenney, who is currently leading in an uncalled race for NY-22. In 2018, White took part in current NY-22 Rep. Anthony Brindisi’s campaign. This year, he wanted to get involved on a different level.

“In 2020, I approached the Broome County Democratic Party about potentially running for a position of my own,” White said. “There’s not a lot of young people in politics, in this area specifically, and I felt that we deserve to have younger perspectives in those rooms when big political decisions are made. People my age dictate the economy in this area. Not entirely, but the University is a big reason why this area has prospered in recent years. I’ve been living in the area since I was four years old, and the more and more prevalent that [BU] has become in our town, I’ve seen the better this area has gotten.”

As a young person and BU student, White felt that he should run to amplify voices like his in Broome County. According to his campaign’s Facebook page, his platform was to prioritize issues affecting young people in the area with an emphasis on issues of mental health and racial injustice, alongside working to fix the issues affecting all Broome County residents, including COVID-19 relief and ending the drug epidemic.

However, as a current student, he ran into some challenges managing his coursework along with the campaign process and getting his name and platform out to the people of his district.

“It was hard running a campaign and balancing schoolwork, especially during a global pandemic,” White said. “It was really difficult to get my name out there, especially since you can’t go door to door. The few times that it was safe to go door-knocking, I had to balance that with my work and schoolwork as well, so it was a lot of hours of my day to be consumed. But being engaged in the democratic process in this way, regardless of your politics, is a really rewarding feeling.”

Although the process was time-consuming, White had help managing his campaign from the Broome County Democratic Party.

“I never realized how many people are involved in local politics until I ran,” White said. “There’s so many people who you will never find on a ballot who are doing important political things. Whether they’re volunteers or people who work at headquarters, there are so many people who do the legwork of our democracy who we never see. It makes you hopeful to see so many people being involved.”

Even though White lost his bid for the seat, he expressed that this should not discourage young people from running for office or being politically engaged and active in their local community.

“I’ve found that politicians, especially at the local level, are really willing to get into contact with you,” White said. “They’ll want to engage with you, especially if you’re young. I can only speak to the [Democratic National Convention (DNC)] in this area because they are the people that I was involved with in this election, but they want young people in politics because they recognize that we’re the future.”

As of Sept. 30, there are 193 active cases in the county and 85 active cases in the city of Binghamton. During a press conference on Wednesday, Broome County Executive Jason Garnar said 21 cases are from Binghamton University students. New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo tweeted on Sept. 28 about a cluster of COVID-19 cases from a pub in Broome County, and local health officials have released several notices informing patrons of Binghamton-area restaurants that they may have been in contact with someone who has since tested positive for COVID-19. Garnar emphasized that most cases were tied to restaurants and bars. Some of these restaurants include Michelangelo’s Pizzeria and Ristorante, Dillinger’s Celtic Pub & Eatery, The Old Union Hotel and more.

Tom & Marty’s Town House, a local bar frequented by students, closed indefinitely on Sept. 30 due to staff member testing positive for COVID-19 on Sept. 28, according to the Twitter account @tomandmartys. In the same Twitter thread, Larry Shea, the owner of the bar, said he thinks he has contacted every person who visited the bar the same nights this employee was working. Shea has posted his cell phone number on his Twitter page asking students he may have missed who frequented the bar any time between Sept. 23 and Sept. 26 to contact him with any questions. While this is not a formal contact-tracing measure, Shea said he will be fully cooperating with the Broome County Health Department.

In an effort to combat potential clusters of COVID-19 stemming from local restaurants, Binghamton Mayor Richard David’s office announced in a press release on Sept. 30 that the city is increasing occupancy compliance checks at Binghamton restaurants and taverns in coordination with local police and fire departments.

“The departments will proactively visit every restaurant and tavern in the city with the goal of promoting compliance and keeping the community safe,” David said. “It’s incumbent upon every resident to follow COVID-19 safety guidelines and help stop the spread.”

Under current New York state guidelines, restaurants in Broome County must limit indoor dining to 50 percent of their normal maximum occupancy and space tables six feet apart or put up barriers.

Ellie Casterline, a senior majoring in English, said patrons are also partly to blame.

“I think because we’re a low-populated area and very spaced out, people feel as if they’re not necessarily affected by [COVID-19] in the same way as people from more densely populated areas,” Casterline said. “People have a lack of fear of [COVID-19], and, because of that, they might not be following guidelines. But, ultimately, when patrons go to restaurants and don’t wear masks, the worst that can happen is they get kicked out of the restaurant, but if someone reports the restaurant because customers aren’t wearing masks, they can be fined or shut down.”

Although cases have been traced back to restaurants, some BU students are concerned that parties and large gatherings thrown by student groups could also be contributing to the rise in cases in Binghamton and Broome County.

Jaclyn Tung, a junior majoring in accounting, said most students are doing a good job following social distancing guidelines and University rules. However, Tung is worried that the students who don’t follow the rules are contributing to the new rise in cases as students grow bored and want to get out of their dorm rooms and apartments.

“I think we’ve done a good job so far in keeping numbers down as a University and a county, but the slight uptick is making me a bit anxious,” Tung said. “I feel like the majority of students are listening to the rules. We haven’t had parties and have followed the guidelines, but I feel like as the semester progresses, the small number of students who are going out partying has increased as people are becoming restless and want the ‘full college experience.’”

Kevin Castro, a junior majoring in psychology, said students who are going out and ignoring guidelines are putting the entire campus at risk.

“I don’t want to be sent home because of a health emergency,” Castro wrote. “I don’t want [BU] to become like other schools that were already sent home. I’m trying to stay at college!”

COVID-19 cases are on the rise in New York City and counties across the state. In order to keep track of Broome County’s cases, visit the COVID-19 dashboard here.

Pipe Dream: What made you want to go into the field of education, specifically, what made you want to teach ESL to young children around the world?

Lissarette Nisnevich: Education fell into my lap. I believe in destiny, callings and things that you attract with your energy. In the same school where I was learning English, having bilingual education, one of my teachers became my supervisor and he offered me a job when I was 15. He told me that he loved my personality, that my English was great and that he would love to have me on the team. I took it because it was a great opportunity to go into college with some extra money. I didn’t see it as something permanent. Then, I realized that I really loved it and that I was really good at it. That’s when it all started.

PD: What was it like to open a daycare center and preschool of your own after teaching students around the world?

LN: The marvelous thing about meeting students around the world is not only broadening my horizons and growing personally, but learning that most parents want the same things for their children no matter where they are. Everyone wants the best for their kids. Once I became pregnant and I started feeling those feelings, it was a no-brainer. I was working at a place where they didn’t want the best for my child or myself. So, I decided that I needed to create that place and open the doors for as many children as possible.

PD: What is one moment you had with a student that made you feel like you were making a difference in their life?

LN: One that comes to mind is when I was working with young children when I was 15. I got letters from them when they were entering high school thanking me for everything that I had done for them and being that safe place where they could learn and be themselves. But I think one of the greatest moments I had was when I first started working with children with special needs. I was put into a mixed classroom and I started noticing that those kids were being put on the side. It was supposed to be this blended learning experience, and it wasn’t. I fell in love with this one nonverbal little guy, and he was so smart, but he just didn’t want to participate and the teacher had just given up. So, I started working on strategies to help him. Then one day out of nowhere he came up to me and started talking to me. It was this amazing moment, one of the greatest in my life. He felt supported and accepted, he had this new desire to get ahead. It was beyond satisfying. It wasn’t about my salary, just about having a connection with a human being.

PD: The theme for this year’s TEDxBinghamtonUniversity Talk is “UNEARTHED.” How does that relate to your talk and your experiences?

LN: Initially, I wanted to talk about how I’ve found it hard to just be myself. At first, I wanted to talk about those challenges and tell people that you need to overcome and be yourself. You need to let the world know who you are. But then, because of the current state of events and my current research, I started talking about cultural trauma and my experiences growing up. When I was growing up, there was a lot of talk about things about me that needed to change. There was never encouragement, just, “All of this is bad, but specifically your hair,” and it’s still something today. I wanted to focus on that because it paints a bigger picture. It’s not just about hair and telling children that parts of themselves are bad, but about what you carry with yourself until adulthood. So my talk is a topic that, culturally, a lot of people don’t want to talk about. Some people will say that I’m being sensitive. But when it comes to children, these are conversations that we need to have. We need to stop telling children that parts of themselves are bad. We need to stop telling them that they need to change their features or how they look so they can be accepted. They already are. It’s our job to support them through that.

PD: What is something that you hope students at Binghamton University will learn from your talk and your experiences?

LN: The same thing that I hope anyone I get to talk to learns. The first is that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with you. The second is to be yourself, the world loves originals. The third is that it doesn’t matter what happened when you were a child, it doesn’t matter what happened before. You have control now. You can build a wonderful and amazing future, it’s up to you!

Tim de Smet, director of the Geophysics and Remote Sensing Laboratory and a research assistant professor of anthropology, canceled several trips abroad where he was planning on conducting fieldwork, including a trip he was supposed to go on in early April to Kyiv, Ukraine. De Smet can still conduct the geophysical research he was working on at the University, but must do so through a distance-learning format.

“In terms of local projects, I am one of the lucky ones since my research is either fieldwork acquiring geophysics and remote sensing data or computational processing of those data,” de Smet wrote in an email. “It’s easy to practice social distancing doing fieldwork with a small number of people in the middle of nowhere and I can process data remotely … The people in wet labs and with animal research are the ones that are probably the worst off.”

Jessica Hua, an assistant professor of biology, runs a wetlands ecology laboratory that is currently studying the wild populations of local amphibians. She wrote in an email that the animals her lab was planning on studying had to be returned.

The pandemic hit during the winter months, and Hua and her team were preparing for spring research. Spring is when most amphibian mating seasons begin, and Hua said it is a crucial time for her research. But plans for multiple studies were abruptly ended when the group came to an agreement to not endanger each other and the animals.

“This [decision] was driven by the fact that multiple students in my lab have preexisting conditions that would make them especially vulnerable should they contract the virus,” Hua wrote. “This combined with the thought of potentially contributing to spreading the virus by moving around doing research made it clear to us that it just wasn’t worth the risk. In the end, we decided as a group that we were not willing to risk each other’s health nor sacrifice animals for a compromised experiment due to reduced personnel. This new research can wait until next year.”

However, some students won’t be on campus next year to continue with research. Dai Bui, a senior majoring in biology, said he had to give up his last chance to do research as an undergraduate.

“Giving up this research opportunity, especially the only opportunity that I’ve had to conduct a study independently, feels as terrible as putting a pet to sleep,” Bui said. “If I happened to get the disease, I’d have to shut down my research by euthanizing hundreds of wood frog tadpoles. So I shut [it] down … The worst impact that COVID-19 has on me, as a student, is that I have to say goodbye early to my [friends] and shut down my research.”

New York state has closed primary elections, meaning that those who wish to vote in the primaries must be registered for their intended party by a date set by the state. The posters, which contained no identifying information about who was responsible for posting them, incorrectly stated that the last day to register for the Democratic primary is April 13.

Alison Handy Twang, associate director of the Center for Civic Engagement (CCE), wrote in an email that the date for current voters to change their party registration has since passed.

“[New York state] has an early deadline for current voters who wish to change their party affiliation in advance of a primary election,” Twang wrote. “Friday, Feb. 14 is the deadline for the Board of Elections to receive a change of party enrollment from current [New York state] voters who want to change their party for the 2020 primary season. This deadline applies to both the April 28 presidential primary and the June 23 local, state and federal primaries.”

While the deadline to change party alignment passed, voters who are not registered for any party can still choose to do so and vote in the primary elections. For first-time registration, applications by mail need to be postmarked before April 3. In-person registration must be done by the same date.

Twang said the CCE was unaware that the posters were going up around campus, and wants to make sure that students know the correct dates and information for the voting process.

“We do not know who hung the flyers with the incorrect party enrollment change deadline,” Twang wrote. “It seems that they may have intended to note that the deadline to change your party enrollment was [Thursday, Feb. 13]. That would also have been misleading, but because they linked to the [Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)] website it would have technically been correct.”

In New York state, voters also have the option to use the DMV online portal to register to vote, and the last day to change party enrollment through this option was Feb. 13.

Binghamton University’s College Democrats confirmed they were not responsible for posting the flyers, and Tim Markbreiter, president of College Democrats and a sophomore majoring in political science, said the organization did what they could to take them down. Since the poster said the deadline was two months later than the actual date, he said there is a possibility that some students did not change their political registration in time.

“I heard about these posters from our vice president,” Markbreiter said. “We have no idea who put them up and we did our best to ensure that these posters came down. After seeing these posters, I’m nervous that there will be more efforts to suppress the student vote. While I would rather assume that this was a genuine mistake, it is also fair to assume that these efforts were made to intentionally suppress the student vote, which is a scary thing for any student, no matter their political affiliation.”

Markbreiter said students who may have been misled by these posters should still exercise their right to vote in the future.

“If there are students who missed the deadline to register with a party because of these posters, I want to implore them to not feel dissuaded from voting in future elections because of this one incident,” Markbreiter said. “Voting is one of the most integral parts of living in a democracy and no one should be pushed away from doing their duty as citizens of this country.”

The renovations to Cleveland Hall, which were originally supposed to be completed by fall 2020, are now projected to be completed in January 2021. The renovations to Hinman Dining Hall, which were also supposed to be completed for the fall semester, are expected to finish in the summer of 2021, a year later than the University originally told students.

Initially, the project was set to start in summer 2019, but construction fencing was not placed around Hinman College until the fall.

James Brice, associate director of operations and crisis, and Cindy Blackman, assistant director for marketing, wrote in an email that because of unforeseen problems, the project is going to take longer than anticipated.

“Both projects are incredibly complex given the scope of the work and the age of the buildings being addressed,” Brice wrote. “Construction was not delayed. As the amount and type of work required was further designed, additional complexities were encountered that extended the time needed to complete the project.”

It’s not entirely clear what the new plan means for the rest of Hinman College’s aging residential halls. The University originally planned to revitalize a dorm building in Hinman College every year, but that timetable may now be subject to change. This year, Hughes Hall was supposed to be renovated alongside Cleveland Hall, but those plans were scrapped in late spring of last year.

“The quad will remain closed until both the dining hall and Cleveland [Hall] are complete at the minimum, and until Hughes [Hall] is renovated at the maximum,” Blackman said. “A schedule for Hughes [Hall] has not yet been confirmed.”

Some students who live in Hinman College said they are growing frustrated with the construction. Faisal Alam, a Hinman College resident and a freshman majoring in political science, said he feels his sleep and studies are negatively impacted.

“The construction has really made it inconvenient for me, with being woken up at around 7 a.m. as construction vehicles arrive loudly before 8 a.m. when they start construction,” Alam said. “I have been woken up on multiple occasions along with a lot of my floor mates. This started just before finals week last semester, and the noise still hasn’t been addressed.”

Alam said he is also concerned about the price he’s paying to live in Hinman College compared to other communities on campus, given the living community’s current lack of amenities.

“It’s insane; we’re paying the same amount for way less than we should be getting,” Alam said. “It shows how the administration doesn’t properly care about its students the way it claims to care about incoming students. I, as an incoming freshman last year, wasn’t notified until after I picked Hinman [College] that we’d have no dining hall.”

The dining hall is also missed by students who live elsewhere on campus. Ellie Casterline, a sophomore majoring in English, said she plans on graduating early and is frustrated that the dining hall will not be back online until after she graduates.

“I used Hinman Dining Hall daily as a place to eat, grab coffee and sit with my friends,” Casterline said. “With the indoor Starbucks gone, I no longer have a cozy space to work and spend time with my friends. The overflow and overcrowding coming into Appalachian [Collegiate Center] and [College-in-the-Woods] Dining Hall create an unwelcoming atmosphere. Since the renovations are taking longer than expected, I won’t get to enjoy the renovated dining hall, since I’ll graduate before it’s completed.”

Under the proposed law, violators could face a misdemeanor charge, a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

At the Broome County Legislature’s meeting, protesters disrupted and put a hold on the proceedings for over an hour, standing in and packing the chamber over capacity. Broome County security, police officers and state troopers were called in, arresting nine for fire code violations and removing others who took the opportunity to criticize the justice system. Several held signs in protest, including one that targeted a physician employed at the Broome County Jail, which has been criticized by several community justice groups for inadequate conditions and medical care. Another sign said “Welcome to Broome County Jail,” with a drawing depicting the grim reaper carrying a scythe.

Lawmakers such as Scott Baker, who introduced and drafted the bill, said the law, titled the “Emergency First Responders Protection Act of 2019,” is meant to protect first responders on the scene of emergencies. However, others, including the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) said the law would be unconstitutional.

“The proposed law … irreconcilably clashes with the First and 14th Amendments,” the NYCLU said. “It is flatly unconstitutional, has been thrown out in nearly identical iterations by every court to review it and, if it is ever enforced here, will be similarly struck down, perhaps at considerable expense to the county. The NYCLU urges Broome County not to adopt it.”

Several Binghamton University students are also against the proposed law, including Scott Sherman, a senior majoring in philosophy, politics and law. Sherman attended the protest after hearing about the law in question from a professor.

“My professor … told me about this protest,” Sherman said. “He told me they were trying to pass a law that would make annoying the police illegal and punishable by a $5,000 fine, and I find that completely reprehensible. That’s a very dangerous slope toward authoritarianism to me.”

Another vocal opponent of the law and one of those arrested is Andrew Pragacz, a lifelong resident of the area, a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at BU and a visiting assistant professor of sociology and anthropology at SUNY Cortland. Pragacz is also one of the founding members of Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier (JUST), a community organization aimed at fighting against mass incarceration and mass policing.

“It is not illegal to be annoying, and I think there are a lot of things that annoy police officers,” Pragacz said. “What they find annoying is us protesting jail deaths. You can’t criminalize being annoying, because annoying is what it means to protest. This law is a clear attempt to silence the discussion about criminal justice reform and criticizing public officials.”

Prior to the meeting, protesters held up 11 gravestones and read the names and dates of death for each person who recently died while incarcerated at the Broome County Jail, some of whom have lawsuits pending from their families. Upon the official commencement of the meeting, protesters interrupted the legislative proceedings by echoing chants such as, “This is what democracy looks like” and “No justice, no peace.”

Daniel Reynolds, chair of the Broome County Legislature, took to the podium to address his fellow committee members and protesters alike.

“The reason for this legislation was not to oppress anyone in particular,” Reynolds said. “We have been talking about this for a while and one of the reasons it came up was because of firefighters. It was firefighters, paramedics, it wasn’t law enforcement. It isn’t so someone can silence anybody. Constitutional law supersedes anything, so you can’t use this for suppression of First Amendment rights anyway. But protecting our first responders is important.”

Tina Chronopoulos, interim director of the Center of Medieval and Renaissance Studies and an associate professor of classics and Near Eastern studies, raised questions of hypocrisy while connecting the proposed law with the recent campus protests.

“On the one hand, politicians like [state Sen. Fred] Akshar and [Binghamton Mayor] Rich David condemn student protesters on campus for ‘shutting down free speech,’ and yet on the other hand, they fully support this proposed law, which, if passed, will have an impact that is very similar on shutting down free speech,” Chronopoulos wrote in an email. “Namely that folks like those who protested on Indigenous People’s Day, and those who go to protests to bear witness [and] record actions of the police, may now feel a chill and may no longer feel ‘free’ to record these actions when they have every right to do so.”

At the meeting, the legislators unanimously passed a motion to revise the proposed amendment to remove the word “annoy,” deeming it too vague and easily misunderstood. The revised version of the bill will be voted on at the next legislative meeting on Thursday, Dec. 19.

Renovations inside the building, which was taken offline this summer, will obstruct the area along the pathway from Parking Lot M and in front of the dining hall, making it more difficult for students coming from the area to access the Brain, the main road that circles campus. Residents of Hinman College will also be affected by the pathway changes, losing access to the Hinman Quad and the surrounding walkway.

In a Listserv email to Hinman College residents, Kandyce Baker, area director of Hinman College, said a new sidewalk will be in use while the construction process is ongoing.

“Pedestrians heading to central campus from [Parking Lot M] should use the new walkway constructed along the Connector Road to reach destinations,” Baker said. “Initial work for the dining hall renovation will involve a lot of utility relocation in the area of [the] Hinman Quad.”

Salenna Weiner, a sophomore majoring in integrative neuroscience and a resident of Lehman Hall, said the construction has already negatively affected her. Her building’s main entrance is partially blocked, and Weiner said finding alternative eating locations and dealing with construction noise has made life more difficult.

“Climbing up to eat at a different community is tedious, especially with the weather not getting any warmer,” Weiner said. “Also, they haven’t started construction until this week, which is strange because the dining hall has been closed since the end of last semester. I’m starting to hear loud drilling throughout the day and it’s pretty disturbing to me.”

Faisal Alam, an undeclared freshman, lives in Hughes Hall. Alam also expressed concerns about having to walk to Mountainview College every day to eat food. The new fencing will make his walk longer than usual.

“I absolutely hate walking up to Appalachian [Collegiate Center] every day,” Alam said. “Especially since I want to avoid walking in the cold for as long as possible.”

This will be the second set of fences being implemented in Hinman College, with the first surrounding Parking Lot L and blocking the path between the lot and Cleveland Hall. Rhyana Ptashnik, a junior double-majoring in English and philosophy, politics and law, is a commuter student who typically parks in Parking Lot M. Ptashnik said she has already been affected by the pathway changes, especially with the end of fall approaching.

“The changes make my walk to class a lot longer because I can no longer cut through Hinman [College],” Ptashnik said. “Instead, I have to walk around Hinman [College], and only one side of the road has sidewalks. The sidewalks are steep and aren’t always salted. The ice and slush can be potentially dangerous. I almost fell walking to class Wednesday morning, and it was barely snowing.”

Lorena Maggiore, a sophomore double-majoring in music and English and a resident in Hillside Community, said she has also seen a longer walk to the main campus because of the construction.

“I have had to take a longer route walking to my classes,” Maggiore said. “It can get pretty exhausting, especially during these colder months. I think it would be great if there were a bus that took us directly to and from the University Union. I avoid taking the bus because I wind up saving time walking, and I think I would take the bus more often if there were fewer stops.”

Ptashnik said there is more the University can do to help students who have to walk from Parking Lot M to the main campus every day.

“They should definitely salt and shovel the ramps and sidewalks more,” Ptashnik said. “They also should have been doing this during the summer, not when school is in session because it interferes with everyone’s route.”

The sculpture, titled “Falling Man,” was first installed on campus near Glenn G. Bartle Library in 1973, and was severely damaged after several collisions with snow plows, incidents of student vandalism and overall weather damage. As part of the new “not but nothing other: African-American Portrayals, 1930s to Today” exhibition, the sculpture was unveiled on Saturday morning.

BU President Harvey Stenger said in his unveiling speech that he was excited to see this piece of public art back on BU’s campus.

“Taking care of art is hard,” Stenger said. “No one took care of it. It was great that we had this opportunity — with the new grant that we have, with the new exhibition we’re showing — to stand up this old piece of art, renovating it, bringing it back to its original condition and presenting it to folks here on this Homecoming Weekend.”

Ronald Gonzalez, overseer on the renovation and a professor of art and design, and Jim Spano, ‘78, a freelance visual culture conceptualist from Endicott, said the placement of the sculpture on the Peace Quad hopes to avoid the hazards that decommissioned it in the first place.

“The sculpture can be in close proximity to the Art Museum and in an area where nothing can compete with it too badly,” Gonzalez said. “Also, now we won’t have the same issues with the location.”

Wilson, who passed away in 1997, chaired of the art and design and art history departments at BU. Other works of art by Wilson, including “Cybele,” “Minority Man #1” and a preparatory drawing titled “Study for Minority Man #1,” are also on display at the BU Art Museum. Some of Wilson’s works are featured in other parts of the country, from Baltimore to Downtown Binghamton.

According to Diane Butler, director of the BU Art Museum, visiting “Falling Man” may surprise those who knew the sculpture in the past, since it looks different today.

“It had a different appearance,” Butler said. “When it was repaired, it was also repatinated to be with a little more of a dull finish. It’s very difficult to get the shiny finish back, but also, Ed Wilson was aesthetically in dialogue with Henry Moore, whose sculpture we have in the Memorial Courtyard, and this kind of finish is very Henry Moore-like.”

With the unveiling of “Falling Man” and the exhibition, the BU Art Museum and the Wilson family said they hope to attract community members and students alike to a greater understanding and respect of the minority voice. Craig Wilson, Ed Wilson’s son, said he was grateful for Gonzalez for continuing his father’s work at the University.

“I’m very pleased that Ron Gonzalez has kept up my father’s work throughout the years and restored this sculpture,” Craig Wilson said. “It’s important for this sculpture to be out at the University. It’s important for students to see art and to appreciate it. So, hopefully, this piece can inspire students to come into [the] Fine Arts [Building], or to at least embrace art.”

Other events during the exhibition, which ends on Dec. 7, include a discussion about African American portrayals with Binghamton alumnus Ruben Santiago-Hudson, ‘78, and a community sing-along with Ysaye Maria Barnwell, a former member of the all-female, African American a cappella group, Sweet Honey in the Rock.

During the talk, which was sponsored by BU’s Center for Civic Engagement, Martinek, who specializes in judicial politics, focused on discussed the legal premise for the investigators’ powers. According to Martinek, there are four types of investigators currently looking into President Donald Trump. The first is Mueller, whose investigation concluded at the end of March. Even though the Mueller investigation is now complete, investigations will still continue because of the institutional structure of the United States.

“[There are] so many investigations,” Martinek said. “Every time you turn on the news, you just get slammed with them.”

Mueller’s investigation is not the first of its kind to be launched on a sitting president. In the 1990s, Special Counsel Ken Starr investigated former President Bill Clinton for his role in the Whitewater scandal and for lying under oath. Mueller’s investigation deals with Russian government interference, WikiLeaks, Middle Eastern interference, the Trump Tower Moscow Project, Paul Manafort and any potential obstruction of justice.

Martinek said the Mueller investigation gave rise to three investigations from U.S. attorneys: one in the eastern district of Virginia, about Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, regarding how he never registered as a lobbyist for a foreign government; another in the southern district of New York, examining campaign conspiracy, Trump’s inauguration and Rebuilding America Now, a pro-Trump political action committee and an investigation in Washington, D.C., focused on the actions of Maria Butina, an accused Russian spy.

Letitia James, New York state’s attorney general, is also launching investigations on the president’s real estate dealings, Trump Tower, meetings with Russian officials and possible violations of the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Martinek said that through congressional committees, such as the House Committee on Financial Services and the House Intelligence Committee, Congress has the power to investigate the president, his finances and any potential involvement in foreign interference.

Martinek also answered students’ questions on a variety of topics relating to the investigation, including media coverage of the investigations and possible bias in the numerous investigations as well as what the redactions in the Mueller report mean, following the talk.

The garden belongs to an organization known as Volunteers Improving Neighborhood Environments (VINES), which is using damaged property to build a community garden that will help feed people in the Binghamton area.

Severe flooding of the Susquehanna River in 2006 and 2011 rendered some private properties and houses on Tudor Street damaged. The city of Binghamton, along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), offered buyouts to homeowners, enabling them to sell their houses at market rate and offering them assistance to move elsewhere.

Because of flooding concerns, FEMA mandated that no structures could be built on the properties in the future. This left the land available for VINES to lease it from the city of Binghamton and expand their pre-existing garden on the same street. According to a news release on the city of Binghamton’s official website, VINES overtook 13 properties in the immediate area.

VINES also received a $100,000 grant in 2017 from New York state to help expand their operations. Without the expansion, the property consists of less than one acre of land that features a hoop greenhouse, which is constructed from semicircular metal bands, a plastic covering and several garden plots, where residents can pay to rent a garden bed to grow fresh vegetables. With the expansion, the property will grow to two acres, and according to Amelia LoDolce, executive director of VINES, the organization plans on using the new land to increase their crop supply.

“We will build another hoop house adjacent to the existing one on another property that we’ve been using since 2010 and that was not part of the FEMA project, which means we will be able to build on it,” LoDolce said. “We’ll expand our perennial food forest and build new perennial food gardens around the property, but the majority of the site will be used for growing crops.”

LoDolce also said VINES wants the land to be a fun and beautiful place for residents of the greater Binghamton area to visit.

“We’ll be exploring opportunities to incorporate public art and interactive features,” LoDolce said. “We’ll also be reserving some space for community members to help design so we can make it functional and attractive for the immediate neighbors.”

In a 2017 press conference about VINES’ expansion, Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo spoke on VINES’ involvement with the community.

“VINES has been dedicated to improving neighborhoods through urban farming and its community gardens, enriching the lives of many residents,” Lupardo said. “Agriculture is a key component of ongoing economic development efforts across the region and VINES is doing its part by introducing local foods to new customers and inspiring a new generation to consider this industry as a career path.”

Along with growing and providing fresh food, LoDolce said she believes the gardens can benefit urban communities and its residents in other ways.

“Urban agriculture can help to make fresh food more available in city neighborhoods while beautifying empty lots,” LoDolce said. “We also use our urban farm to host our summer youth employment program, Grow Binghamton, which gives teenagers the opportunity to learn about growing food and build important job and life skills while earning a paycheck.”

Also known as the “Festival of Colors,” Holi attendees celebrated by throwing more than 300 pounds of colored powder into the air and 1,000 water balloons at each other. The annual event was organized by the Hindu Student Council and Delta Epsilon Psi, a South Asian service fraternity at BU, and charged $7 per ticket. Students were given white T-shirts to smear powder and water on, as well as samosas and mango lassis — food and drink that are traditionally associated with the festival. All proceeds went toward the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

In Hindu legend, Holi is celebrated to commemorate the triumph of good over evil. According to Hindu legend, King Hiranyakashipu, a king of demons, believed himself to be the most powerful of all the gods and demanded they all worship him. His son Prahlada, a worshipper of Vishnu, was subject to harsh torture as a result of not worshipping his father, and Hiranyakashipu conspired with Prahlada’s aunt, Holika, to kill him by leading him into a bonfire. Prahlada was saved by Vishnu, and Hiranyakashipu and Holika were killed.

According to Shivani Tambi, president of the Hindu Student Council and a senior double-majoring in English and economics, Holi has been celebrated for thousands of years in India, and the on-campus event aims to mimic those same traditions.

“In South Asia, it’s usually celebrated in the streets of whatever city or village you’re in,” Tambi said. “People usually wear white and go outside onto the streets and throw powder and water at each other. The purpose of it is to celebrate color and the beginning of spring.”

The tradition of throwing colored powder and paint comes from the legend of Hindu gods Krishna and Radha. Krishna, whose skin is tinted blue as a result of being poisoned as a child, was unsure if Radha, the goddess of love and beauty, would ever love him. His mother suggested he approach her and color her face with red paint to woo her. Radha fell in love with him, and thus the tradition of smearing paint and colored powder on loved ones and family was born.

Pranjal Patel, a junior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, said although she was celebrating the holiday away from home, she was excited to share the tradition with friends.

“Back home, at my local temple, we always celebrated it with family,” Patel said. “But now it’s fun because it’s with my friends.”

For Alisha Sharma, a freshman majoring in biology, the celebration at BU was lively and fun.

“It’s so nice being on this big open field with all this color and powder,” Sharma said. “At home, we do it on a much smaller scale.”

Others were celebrating the holiday for the first time. Valerie Pascuzzi, a sophomore majoring in integrative neuroscience, was not raised in the Hindu faith or Indian culture but was excited to try something new.

“I thought it was really fun,” Pascuzzi said. “It was my first time here. Last year I saw my suitemate come back from it and she looked like she had a lot of fun so I wanted to try it out this year.”