In collaboration with Binghamton University’s Residential Life and Environmental Health and Safety offices, the talk included a screening of the documentary “After the Fire: A True Story of Heroes & Cowards,” which centered around Llanos and Simons’ recovery and the investigation into the fire. Afterward, the two spoke to the crowd about their experience and general fire safety, before the floor was opened to audience questions.

“What we have done is we’ve turned our tragedy, in a sense, into an educational and inspirational story for young adults, especially who are living on college campuses, just to show them the importance of fire safety and fire prevention from our perspective,” Simons said in an interview with Pipe Dream. “We’re not firefighters, we didn’t go to school to learn this. We were students, and we thought we were invincible, that nothing could happen to us, and unfortunately, the situation did.”

“Now we’re just trying to embrace that tragedy in order to help others,” he continued.

On Jan. 19, 2000, two students, Sean Ryan and Joseph LePore, set fire to a bulletin board in Boland Hall, a freshman dormitory, as a fraternity prank. Because the building did not have a sprinkler system, the fire spread rapidly. Three students passed away — Aaron Karol, Frank Caltabilota and John Giunta — and 56 more were injured.

Llanos and Simons, then 18, were two of the most severely injured students. They awoke at 4:30 a.m. to the fire alarm, which Simons said frequently went off as a result of pranks. Expecting another false alarm, the two tried to leave, only to be met by intense heat and smoke.

The two crawled out of the room and were separated. Simons was able to escape but suffered burns while crawling, as the fire reached about 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit. While attempting to leave through a door, Llanos was struck by a fireball and set on fire. Two residential assistants helped put out the fire, and they were evacuated.

Simons was burned on 16 percent of his body, suffering serious injuries to his hands, head and face. Llanos suffered burns on 56 percent of his body. The two were hospitalized and put in medically induced comas, Simons for two weeks and Llanos for three months.

The documentary showcased testimonials from their family members, as well as healthcare workers, police officers and other survivors of the fire. Ryan and LePore pled guilty to third-degree arson and witness tampering and were sentenced to five years at a youth correctional facility.

After the screening, Llanos and Simons gave safety tips to the audience in the event of a residence hall fire. As many students attending were RAs, they showed a list of banned items in dorms and urged students to report any potential fire hazards.

They also warned of the dangers of smoke inhalation, the most common cause of death in a fire.

“I strongly urge every single person in this room today that whenever you all hear a fire alarm go off, we need you all to take it as serious as possible,” Simons said. “Stop what you’re doing, get up and get out as quickly as you can. Don’t sit there and look at your roommate and say, ‘Do you think we should go outside?’”

Llanos and Simons told students that when entering an unfamiliar space, check to see if there are multiple exits. They said that in the event of a fire, many people try to escape through the exit they came in from, but that might not be the quickest or safest way to leave the building.

Along with fire prevention tips, Llanos and Simons shared how their recovery taught them invaluable life lessons.

Llanos said that his recovery was both physical and psychological, as he struggled with his identity after being scarred. After fearing how he would be perceived by those around him, he realized that “before society could accept me, I had to learn to accept myself.”

“I had to learn how to love myself, and we all need to learn how to love ourselves a bit more,” Llanos said. “Our scars, our flaws and imperfections don’t define who we are. Everything in our heart, everything we become defines who we are.”

Attendees then asked Llanos and Simons questions. One attendee asked if they were able to forgive the two arsonists. Both said they did and that letting go of their resentment allowed them greater happiness.

While Llanos said he realized he needed to forgive early on in his recovery, Simons said it took him 10 years and a conversation with his mother to forgive.

“A lot of times we say, ‘Oh, we hate a person, we can’t stand a person,’ and nine times out of 10, that person is off living their life not thinking about you one second of the day,” Simons said. “You’re the only person that’s hurting by holding on to that, and when I was able to truly grasp that and be able to say, ‘You know what, there’s nothing I can do about changing the past. If they don’t want to come forward, if they don’t want to apologize, that’s on them. That’s not on me at any point.’”

“Once I was able to truly grasp that, honestly, my life became a lot more positive because I wasn’t holding on to that negative energy,” he finished.

The Oct. 1 shutdown resulted from disagreements over healthcare funding, with Democratic legislators wanting to extend tax credits provided to low-income Americans through the Affordable Care Act. Republican lawmakers prefer instead to pass a funding bill first and then discuss healthcare negotiations. Democrats were also opposed to the planned Medicaid cuts that passed as part of the Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” act in July, which Republicans argue were necessary to reduce federal deficits and cut waste.

Ultimately, with no funding bill or continuing resolution passed, the federal government entered a shutdown.

“The GOP shutdown will have devastating effects on workers, small businesses and families throughout our state,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul last week in a press release. “Washington Republicans need to do their damn jobs, actually stand up for the people they serve, and come to the table to end this shutdown.”

Initiatives like the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that provide food to low-income families will have their funding paused, with WIC projected to quickly deplete its remaining funds. WIC provides 450,000 infants, children and pregnant mothers in New York with nutrition services and healthy food. (4) The suspension of this program may result in the loss of necessary aid for these people, according to Rep. Josh Riley, who represents New York’s 19th congressional district.

Applicants for federal housing and small business loans could also face delays, while those in rural areas eligible for mortgages through the U.S. Department of Agriculture will be unable to access loans during the shutdown. If the shutdown persists, Riley warned about delays in the development, rehabilitation and refinancing of homes.

Mayor Jared Kraham said that this shutdown has instilled a sense of uneasiness within the local community.

“You have agencies that can’t respond to emails, you have funding requests and grant programs that are going to be slowed down, and it sends a terrible message for our local economy, for confidence in people making investments,” said Kraham. “And then, practically speaking, things like federal Income Housing Tax Credits, which are really critical to funding affordable housing in Binghamton, get delayed.”

“Governments need to work for the people,” he continued. “These U.S. agencies and our federal tax dollars should not be used as political pawns and should not be used in service of one party over the other.”

Some Binghamton University students have also expressed discontent over the shutdown and concern over the negative impacts many Americans may face.

“This is not a time for lawmakers to play political games,” wrote the BU College Democrats in a statement to Pipe Dream. “Americans, including those living in Binghamton and across New York, rely on measures like the healthcare subsidies provided by the Affordable Care Act to receive critical medical care. Republicans must stop refusing to fund healthcare that Americans need and instead help Democrats pass a bill that will actually help their constituents.”

The College Democrats also emphasized the importance of students staying informed about their congressional representatives’ actions leading up to the 2026 midterm elections.

The shutdown has gone on for over a week, with the solution to the deadlock remaining unclear. The White House website has a stopwatch currently posted to keep track of how long the shutdown has lasted, claiming that “Democrats have shut down the government.”

“We’ve seen gridlock in Washington,” said Kraham. “What we have never seen before is the White House use government agencies that are supposed to represent all of the American people as a political weapon against their opponents. The White House is doing that.”

The march, held in coalition with the Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine, the Student Power Coalition and other local organizations, is part of the SJP’s “Week of Solidarity.” According to an SJP Instagram post, the events of this week aim to “commemorate and commiserate 2 years of genocide” and “reveal the complicity of our institutions.”

“There are dynasties of tragedy written into every Palestinian life,” said a student at the beginning of the march. “Whether born under siege, under occupation or in exile, Palestinians carry 76 years of inherited grief, but also of resilience, and now, two years into Israel’s most brutal, most shameless assault in Gaza, we find ourselves still screaming the same truth, still pleading, still mourning, still counting the dead, if we are even allowed to count them. We should not have to prove our suffering to the world.”

Demonstrators met at the Glenn G. Bartle Library bridge and continued to the Pegasus Statue in front of the Library Tower. Protesters held signs reading “Free Palestine” and “Lockheed Martin Bombs Children” while chanting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

The student speaker then continued their speech, highlighting the role of “scholasticide” in the humanitarian crisis. According to the American Historical Association, which condemned the scholasticide in Gaza back in January, the term refers to the systematic destruction of educational institutions.

A member of the Feminist Collective spoke next, emphasizing the role of gendered violence in Gaza. She explained how sexual violence has been used as a tool of war and colonization, dehumanizing women and destroying communities.

“Gendered violence under Israeli apartheid functions as a mechanism of erasure, one that tells Palestinian women that their lives, their knowledge and their futures are expendable,” the speaker said. “It mirrors patterns seen throughout history and other genocides: women’s suffering made invisible, their pain politicized only when it serves the oppressor’s narrative.”

In a September report, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, found that Israeli authorities “committed four of the five genocidal acts defined by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.”

Over 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces over the past two years, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

The march then moved in front of the Engineering Building. A speaker from Georgia affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America talked about an effort to build a police training facility on the outskirts of Atlanta. First proposed in 2021, the facility, nicknamed “Cop City,” opened in April after years of protest by the local community.

The speaker argued that building this facility was akin to bringing Israeli military training onto U.S. soil. They also accused Binghamton University of spending money on a “surveillance system that prevents protests from happening before they start,” likely referencing the University’s partnership with Genetec, a Montreal-based surveillance solutions company, to integrate data from its 1,635 surveillance cameras into one system.

In a case study, Dave Martin, assistant director of security infrastructure and support at the University, said unplanned gatherings “can sometimes get out of hand,” but the new video analytics tools can “preemptively alert us” if the crowd is large enough so security can determine if the situation “needs to be addressed.”

A representative from the Muslim Student Association then spoke, reciting a prayer calling for an end to oppression worldwide.

Protesters then marched to the Couper Administration Building. A speaker from the Yiddish Bund condemned collaboration between the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science and weapons manufacturing companies.

Afterward, a registered nurse talked about their experience last year working in Gaza and described witnessing babies being delivered amid active bombings. They then read a poem they wrote about the humanitarian crisis.

Several counterprotesters waving Israeli flags were also present throughout the march, with several making comments during the speeches.

Next, a student described her time studying abroad last semester and said she saw “more Palestinian flags than I’d ever thought I’d see.” While in Morocco, she met a scarf maker who, upon recognizing her Palestinian pendant, held her hand and said, “We are all Palestinians.”

One counterprotester yelled back, “No guy held your hand, we don’t believe that.”

She continued speaking about her personal experience, telling the crowd she had not “felt that sense of humanity in a very long time.”

Finally, a representative from the Rainbow Pride Union spoke about pinkwashing, a term they said refers to “Israel’s cynical weaponization of a veneer of LGBTQ acceptance to distract from and ultimately justify its brutal oppression of Palestinians.”

“I still truly believe that there’s something beautiful about the fact that all these people come together to support this cause, to talk about this and, honestly, let Couper admin know that we are here and we stand for Palestine,” they said.

Hours after the march ended, the University sent out a Dateline announcement condemning the actions of SJP.

“Even if conducted peacefully, holding a protest on this solemn day was viewed by many as deeply insensitive,” the statement read. “We ask all members of our community to exercise empathy and awareness when expressing their views, considering how and when to do so. Freedom of expression carries with it the responsibility to assess the broader impact of our actions.”

The march was held on the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 250 were abducted. As of yesterday, 48 hostages, 26 of whom are publicly confirmed to be deceased, are still held captive in Gaza.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced on social media that the leaders of Israel and Hamas have agreed to the “first phase” of a peace plan, which involves an exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners. According to Trump, the plan will also include the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza to an “agreed upon line.”

In a statement to Pipe Dream, the SJP called the University’s statement “disheartening,” claiming that the University’s actions do not adhere to the code of conduct or uphold principles of freedom of speech and expression. The statement further highlighted cases of alleged harassment against pro-Palestine protesters that have gone unaddressed by the University.

The SJP also argued that despite the controversy surrounding the date of the march, Oct. 7 holds significance for its advocacy as well.

“True, we could’ve held our action on another day, as every day is significant for our cause,” SJP wrote in its statement. “However, October 7th does not have a singular significance that is exclusive to ‘one side.’ We cannot entertain the notion that we are being ‘insensitive’ for holding our action on this day, while in the same breath, Zionists celebrate the Israeli-orchestrated genocide that has only intensified in the two years since.”

Held in the Mandela Room, the memorial was in remembrance of the 2023 Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel, where about 1,200 people were killed and 250 were taken hostage. Most of the victims were Israeli citizens.

“I think it’s definitely very important to be able to bring our community together on this anniversary, especially in the midst of peace talks going on currently in Egypt that could possibly bring an end to this war,” said Mackenzie Cooper ‘25, BUZO’s vice president and a first-year graduate student studying public administration. “It just brings an added level of significance and remembrance to this day, knowing that there’s an element of hope, knowing that this mourning could reach a resolution sooner.”

Two years after the attacks, 48 hostages, including 26 who are confirmed deceased, remain in Gaza. Negotiations continued this week to strike an agreement that would lead to the release of hostages and a potential ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced on social media that the leaders of Israel and Hamas have agreed to the “first phase” of a peace plan, which involves an exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.

“There has been a mixture of opinion on the politics of the war, and I think that there’s some beauty in that, in the fact that the Jewish population across the diaspora and in Israel is not homogeneous at all, and we have the liberty to have a diversity of opinion,” Cooper said. “So while we all mourn the hostages that are still there, we mourn the life of each and every soldier that is lost, the perception of the political implications and happenings of the war have definitely shifted, but the severity remains the same.”

In the center of the room, 48 yellow chairs displayed images of the remaining hostages. More photos of the hostages were also displayed around the room, along with yellow ribbons, which have been used as a symbol of hope for the release of hostages and to show support for Israel.

“I think for many people in the greater Jewish community, no matter what day it is, every day still feels like Oct. 7, especially when you think about the 48 hostages still there,” said Angelina Palumbo, the president of BUZO and a senior majoring in Judaic studies. “It’s very hard to move on when we’re still stuck on that day.”

Another exhibit honored the Bibas family. Yarden Bibas was held hostage for 484 days and his wife Shiri, 4-year-old son Ariel and 9-month-old son Kfir died in captivity. A crib was displayed to represent “the childhood and youth that was sadly taken away,” Palumbo said.

A sukkah, a hut topped with branches, was set up to celebrate Sukkot, a weeklong holiday that begins five days after Yom Kippur. Pictures were displayed of sukkahs in Israel that had been destroyed or damaged during the attacks, which took place one day after Sukkot ended in 2023.

Another table showed prayers for the state of Israel, captives and members of the Israel Defense Forces in both English and Hebrew.

Moshe Creditor, a junior double-majoring in philosophy, politics and law and environmental studies, attended the memorial to remember the victims of Oct. 7.

“This was the most Jews killed on a single day since the Holocaust,” Creditor said. “And after the Holocaust, a promise was made, ‘never again.’ Like, #neveragain, in reference to what the Nazis did to the Jewish population of Europe.”

“And Oct. 7 was an example of us failing that promise of never again, because [about 1,200] people [were] murdered, another 250 kidnapped, so I’m here to honor their memory and continue our promise of making sure this can never happen again,” he continued.

In a 2025 report, the Anti-Defamation League reported a 344 percent increase in documented antisemitic incidents across the United States over the past five years. Fifty-eight percent of incidents in 2024 were related to anti-Israel and anti-Zionist sentiment, according to the report.

BUZO will hold a vigil and another walkthrough memorial on Oct. 16.

“Right after Oct. 7, we were hit with a wave of a lot of heightened emotions and feelings from people of all different communities, and sometimes people react in certain ways when they’re hurt or upset,” Palumbo said. “And I think we’ve definitely seen studies show a 400 percent spike in antisemitism, especially on college campuses. But I think the best way to respond is by coming together as a community and being proud and strong with our identity, and that’s why events like this are so important.”

The checks are intended to provide relief to New Yorkers who now pay more in sales taxes due to inflation. From the end of September to November, qualifying New Yorkers will automatically begin receiving checks. The policy has faced disapproval from some progressive state lawmakers, who claim the initiative is misguided due to the Trump administration’s expected cuts to Medicaid and other social services that increase next year’s state budget deficit.

The amount taxpayers receive will depend on how they filed their taxes and the income they received in 2023. The highest check is $400, which will be awarded to married individuals who filed jointly and to qualifying surviving spouses who earned $150,000 or less. Single individuals, married couples filing separately and heads of households who made between $75,000 and $150,000 will receive $150.

To qualify for the checks, full-year residents must have filed a New York State Resident Income Tax Return, reported an income of less than $300,000 a year and must not have been claimed as a dependent on another taxpayer’s return.

Since full-time undergraduate students can be claimed as dependents on their parents’ tax returns if they are under 24 years old and receive over a majority of their financial support from their parents, many will not receive a check. Still, some graduate students meet the qualifications.

Viktorya Erdogu, president of the Graduate Student Employees Union chapter at Binghamton University and a third-year Ph.D. student studying political science, spoke with Pipe Dream about the economic concerns of graduate student workers and how the rebates might impact them. She addressed how the base stipend for doctoral students at the University, which they bargained to increase to $25,000 per year starting January 2026, still lags behind the minimum annual living wage needed in Broome County of about $40,000, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s living wage calculator.

“We do appreciate that [Hochul’s] trying to help, but this one-time payment isn’t a solution, and we’re advocating for fair wages, for better benefits, including health insurance, for all TAs and GAs, all grad student workers across the SUNY system,” Erdogu said.

Hochul has argued these inflation rebate checks will put money back in the pockets of New Yorkers, who now pay a higher price for many household items due to inflation.

According to ABC’s price tracker, overall grocery prices in the Northeast are 27.3 percent higher than they were in January 2015. The cost of living in New York in 2025 is 27 percent higher than the national average.

As prices rise, New Yorkers are paying more for purchased items and sales taxes on those goods. According to Hochul, the rise in sales taxes increased state revenue by over $2 billion, which will directly finance refund checks.

“It dawned on me instantly — this doesn’t belong to us,” Hochul said at a press conference, referring to New York’s surplus sales tax revenue. “This is because hard-working New Yorkers got slammed with higher costs of everything.”

Hochul, State Sen. Lea Webb ‘04 and Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Some progressive state lawmakers believe the money would be better spent on closing the state’s projected $10.5 billion deficit gap to thwart deep cuts to social services. According to Blake Washington, the state’s budget director, federal funding cuts contribute at least $3 billion to the shortfall.

In August, some state lawmakers held a rally in Manhattan and criticized the rebates, calling on Hochul to convene a special state legislative session to raise taxes on the wealthy to fund social services like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid that were cut by the Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” act.

“We have a responsibility to actually tax the ultra-wealthy and big corporations,” said Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado at the rally. “ Two billion dollars — that could be very useful right now.”

Additionally, since the program sends out checks instead of acting as a tax credit, the checks will be subject to federal income tax, providing hundreds of millions of dollars to the federal government. New Yorkers will have to report the rebates on their income tax returns next year.

Hochul has been criticized for a comment she made in September at the True Bethel Baptist Church, a predominantly Black congregation in Buffalo, New York, regarding inflation refunds.

“Don’t spend it all in one day,” she told the congregation. “Get something you really need, OK? Don’t stop by the liquor store, OK? Buy something for the kids — buy them some food.”

Following the remarks, she stated, “Sometimes I have to stop by the liquor store too. I understand. It’s alright. It’s alright.”

Sarafina Chitika, Hochul’s campaign spokesperson, claimed the moment was not racist and instead was intended to be lighthearted and self-deprecating.

Republicans in the state legislature condemned the policy as insignificant and not doing enough to help New Yorkers.

“I never say no to giving money back to our taxpayers, but it’s a gimmick,” said Edward Ra, a Republican assemblyman from Nassau County. “It’s a one-shot initiative.”

The Network for a Sustainable Tomorrow is a nonprofit that conducts outreach and promotes education on sustainability and clean energy. As part of its mission to promote environmental justice, the organization has adopted the Energy Corps internship program for undergraduate and high school students interested in the renewable and clean energy sectors.

However, after its funding is cut off at the end of this year, NeST does not have a concrete backup plan to support many of these internships, leaving students at a loss.

The Energy Corps internship runs three times a year, with programs in the fall, spring and summer. Energy Corps interns assist in facilitating community outreach related to energy efficiency, including solar and geothermal energy, and support community efforts to increase environmental awareness. Groups of three to six eligible undergraduate and high school students are chosen to participate in this paid internship.

Running for over 10 years, the internship has graduated about 120 interns, most of whom have been Binghamton University students. Many of them have gone on to pursue careers in clean energy and related fields, with nearly a third working in the energy not-for-profit and environmental fields.

“About 13 or 14 percent of our alums have gone into the clean energy industry in various different ways, and there’s no question at all that our internship has facilitated many careers,” Adam Flint, BA ‘88, MA ‘98, Ph.D. ‘08, the organization’s director of clean energy programs, said in an interview. “It’s facilitated careers outside of the industry as well — people have gone into nonprofits and so forth.”

To adequately fund these paid internships, NeST has looked to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, an agency that runs the New York State Clean Energy internship program. According to NYSERDA’s website, this program “provides funding to eligible clean energy businesses, organizations, and local municipalities hiring interns to perform meaningful work in the clean energy sector.”

Earlier this year, NYSERDA proposed discontinuing this funding in a May 15 order issued by the state’s Public Service Commission. The order declared that NYSERDA would discontinue its Climate Justice Fellowship after June 30, 2026 and that funding would be cut for the Clean Energy Internship program. NYSERDA is currently seeking other funding sources for the internship.

Flint told Pipe Dream these cuts would affect NeST’s internship offerings, which would negatively impact students. According to Flint, NeST received around 90 resumes from University students alone, before a Watson College career fair boosted applications even further. The program offers a total of only eight positions between their last summer and fall program cycles.

“There’s huge demand for this because we deliver value, and people get paid, people get jobs,” said Flint. “It’s a proven program. If we do not have money, come January, I think we’ll be able to offer our spring internship, but we probably can’t offer our summer internship. And frankly, we’re having other problems attracting money as well.”

Flint noted that despite its involvement with BU, NeST has never received direct funding from the University. He highlighted the benefits that the NeST program has provided for the University and its students, including work on faculty research projects and being a key partner in the Binghamton 2 Degrees project, which works to solve problems that result from living under two degrees of global warming.

“I will say this, that I am a double alumni of this university, and we have benefited 120 of the University’s students, it would be nice to get some support from the University,” Flint said. “Not simply the existing funding that they have for some students to get paid less than we pay them for the summer, but to actually support the organization that is necessary for this internship to exist.”

Editor’s Note (10/10): A previous version of this article said the Climate Justice Fellowship and Clean Energy Internship would end on Dec. 31, 2025. The fellowship will end June 30, 2026, and there is no planned closure of the internship.

The fair was organized in collaboration with the Center for Civic Engagement and a variety of student organizations: the Asian Student Union; the Latin American Student Union; the Indian International Student Union; the Hindu Student Council; the Juvenile Urban Multicultural Program; the Caribbean Student Association; the Black Student Union; the African Student Organization; the Binghamton University Association of Mixed Students; the Global Public Health Student Association; the University’s chapter of the NAACP; Undivided; ColorStack BU; and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.

“The third annual Multicultural Voting Fair aimed to promote voting behavior and civic engagement among the student body of Binghamton University, especially in students of color, who are historically underrepresented at the polls,” Kristina Donders, the vice president for student success and a senior double-majoring in mathematics and political science, wrote in a statement to Pipe Dream. “By giving out $1,500+ of cultural food and 300 cans of Celsius, the VPSS Office was able to entice students to learn about civic engagement.”

Students received cards at the fair entrance to get stamped by visiting each of the four voter information tables, which offered information about becoming a poll worker, registering to vote, pledging to vote and requesting an absentee ballot. Once they collected a stamp from each table, attendees went around to the many tables set up by multicultural organizations that offered food, drinks and snacks.

Donders described the event as a “huge success.”

“Even though it’s not a big voting year, we had three students register to vote at the event, 38 students actively go to vote.gov [HYPERLINK: vote.gov] to get registered, and 55 students go to the website to request absentee ballots,” Donders wrote.

Binghamton city’s mayoral election will be held on Nov. 4, with early voting from Oct. 25 to Nov. 2. Voters will decide whether to give incumbent Republican Mayor Jared Kraham a second term or elect his Democratic challenger, Miles Burnett.

Donders wrote that this election will “directly impact” students and showcase the importance of being active in local politics.

According to the Census Bureau’s Population Survey, voter registration among Black, Asian and Latino Americans has been persistently lower than that of white Americans. While Latinos and Asian Americans are among the fastest-growing electorates in the United States, they remain among the lowest in terms of voter registration. This is due to a myriad of factors, including historical and economic barriers to poll access and voter ID requirements.

“Voting in communities that are historically underrepresented, especially, is a really good way to start the conversation about how oppression begins and how we can fight to stop it,” said Hatim Husainy, an SA Congress representative for Hillside and a sophomore majoring in political science. “That conversation shouldn’t end at voting, but it’s a good place for it to start.”

Jestina Tam, vice president of multicultural affairs and a senior majoring in biology, volunteered at a table that provided absentee ballot request forms. Tam told Pipe Dream in a statement that it was “incredible” to engage with attendees and answer their questions about voting eligibility.

Students representing the NAACP described the importance of racially and culturally informed voter education.

“The NAACP has a huge history in promoting the right to vote for people of color, so it’s very important that, as an organization on campus, we also show up for events like this,” said Damel Stewart, the press and publicity chair for BU’s NAACP chapter and a sophomore majoring in biomedical engineering.

In early November, the VPSS office will host a “Chalk the Vote” event, where students can write non-partisan quotes and slogans on the Spine to encourage their peers to vote in the general election.

“Over the past two years, the Multicultural Voting Fair has helped dozens of students get registered to vote, become poll workers, request absentee ballots, and pledge to vote,” wrote Donders. “By putting students in a place where they can have support to become more civically engaged, while also getting free food, we’re able to get students genuinely excited about voting.”

Dozens of community members attended the “Meet the Mayoral Candidates” event, held downtown at the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator. Hosted by the Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce, the debate focused on issues ranging from local economic development to infrastructure and public safety.

Stacey Duncan, the CEO of the Leadership Alliance, a group that partners with the Chamber of Commerce and the Broome County Industrial Development Agency to promote local business activity, thanked both candidates for agreeing to come and discuss their vision for the city’s future.

“I want to thank both of you for stepping and staying into this arena, because in the world we live in today, with intense public scrutiny, it’s not an easy thing to do, and I don’t think anybody takes this kind of work lightly,” Duncan said.

The debate was moderated by Brooke Warpus, a news anchor on FOX 40 News. A student from Vestal High School kept time. Both candidates were given three minutes for opening and closing statements, two minutes to answer questions and one minute for rebuttal if requested.
Burnett told the audience he entered the race in February because he was “fed up” at seeing the city face continued challenges, citing its high poverty rate and challenges with homelessness and vacant properties.

A South Side native, Burnett served as deputy chief of staff to State Sen. Lea Webb ‘04 from 2023 to 2024. He also worked as an aide to a former New York City councilman and the executive director of a nonprofit advancing economic development projects.

Kraham said the city undoubtedly faces “great challenges” and that he spent his first term in office working to tackle some of these problems.

Alluding to the current federal government shutdown, Kraham said he wants to be a “problem solver” who will ensure that “we keep our services up and running and our government open,” adding that shutdowns are “not an option for local leaders.”

When both candidates were asked about their biggest achievements, Burnett pointed to his time advancing new development projects and “revitalizing commercial corridors.” He added that as mayor, building new housing units would be a major focus of his.

Kraham said his public safety record is what he has “been most proud of” and highlighted that both the Binghamton Police Benevolent Association Local 2737 and the Binghamton Professional Firefighter Association Local 729 endorsed his reelection campaign. Burnett responded by saying he would implement a “team of mental health experts” to help address some nonviolent incidents and tackle a mental health crisis.

When asked about attracting new investment to the region, Burnett voiced his plan to create a local council of small business owners. Kraham pointed to a Sept. 24 article by the Albany Times Union that found the Binghamton metropolitan area to be the only region in the state that increased its share of 18 to 34-year-olds since 2019.

Turning to infrastructure, Kraham highlighted his work to get Norfolk Southern to begin repairs on decaying railroad bridges across the city. In August 2023, Kraham’s office released an over-900-page report that found a majority of surveyed bridges were in “poor” or “severe” condition. Norfolk Southern announced that it would begin repairs on seven of its bridges that October.

Both candidates were also asked about their plans to tackle poverty and rising housing costs.

“Thirty-three percent of our community lives in poverty because they cannot find a safe, affordable place to live,” Burnett said. “That’s three times the national average right here in Binghamton. And I know my opponent is talking about childhood poverty not growing, but it’s at 42 percent in our community, we have almost 400 Binghamton city school kids that are homeless.”

Kraham pointed out that several housing projects were currently under construction, including the Town and Country project in the city’s North Side.

When the debate shifted back to public safety, Kraham directly asked Burnett about his plans for police staffing. Burnett responded by saying the department should be “fully staffed.”

Asked about how they envision the city over the next decade, Kraham said he would continue to facilitate partnerships with Binghamton University to drive more local investment in the healthcare and technology sectors.

In closing statements, Burnett stressed that the community should “stop pretending that the problems don’t exist” and the changes he would make to Binghamton’s economic development. Kraham said that while there is “a lot of work to do,” his track record demonstrates how he would address the city’s most pressing issues.

“If we’re going to rebuild this city, we’re going to face the challenges we have and really have a bright future,” Kraham said in his closing statement. “It’s going to take experienced leadership that knows how to get stuff done — that represents my candidacy.”

The Title VI coordinator works with students and faculty to combat discrimination and promote a safe and inclusive learning environment. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on skin color, race, national origin and shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics. The University designated Ada Robinson-Perez, Ph.D. ‘19, the executive director of the Office of Equity and Access and coordinator for accommodations and accessibility services, as its Title VI coordinator.

As Title VI coordinator, Robinson-Perez will act as the primary point of contact for discrimination protection efforts, lead investigations into suspected bias and ensure any investigation complies with federal and state law. She will also be responsible for notifying individuals who submit a Title VI complaint of the University’s procedures and telling all BU students and faculty about the policies in place for reporting discrimination and harassment reports every academic year.

The University is currently searching for a Title VI specialist to support Robinson-Perez in her duties.

“As a person who honors our humanity, I believe we all share a social responsibility that supports and protects equity and equality,” Robinson-Perez wrote.

Robinson-Perez completed her Ph.D. in community research and action from the College of Community and Public Affairs. She spent five years as associate director of the University’s Employee Assistance Program and has been the student affairs divisional diversity officer since February 2020.

“This new law is about making sure there are clear, accountable systems in place to protect students and uphold their civil rights,” State Sen. Lea Webb ‘04 wrote in a statement to Pipe Dream. “Every student, no matter their background, should feel safe, supported, and heard on campus, and this law brings us one step closer to that goal.”

In February, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the creation of a multi-agency task force to combat antisemitism on college campuses. It was formed days after President Donald Trump signed a directive ordering the head of each executive department and agency to create a report detailing all administrative complaints submitted against institutions of higher education “alleging civil-rights violations related to or arising from post-October 7, 2023, campus anti-Semitism.”

The Department of Education then opened Title VI investigations into five universities, including Columbia University and Northwestern University, “where widespread antisemitic harassment has been reported.”

In March, the University and 59 other higher education institutions received letters [HYPERLINK: https://www.bupipedream.com/news/university-one-of-60-colleges-warned-by-education-department/163686/] from the Education Department that warned of “potential enforcement actions” if they did not adequately fulfill their obligations to protect Jewish students under Title VI. All 60 universities were under investigation for alleged antisemitic discrimination and harassment on their campuses.

The investigation at BU began in [HYPERLINK: https://www.bupipedream.com/news/u-s-education-department-opens-investigation-into-university-following-complaint-of-failing-to-respond-to-antisemitism/146557/] January 2024 after the University allegedly failed to respond to an incident of antisemitism on campus.

The University’s Title VI committee, which is mandated by SUNY, reviews discrimination cases and has procedures for complex and high-profile complaints.

Title VI does not protect students from discrimination that is solely based on religion. However, students part of a religious group that experiences discrimination based on national origin are protected by Title VI, meaning the University is responsible for addressing conduct that “may create a hostile environment,” according to Robinson-Perez.

“As our country faces increased instances of hate, particularly antisemitism, our colleges must take proactive measures to ensure everyone feels safe and welcome on campuses,” State Sen. Shelley B. Mayer, who represents parts of Westchester, said in a press release.

The University has a Religious Accommodation and Expression policy affirming its commitment to “providing a welcoming environment for all, regardless of religious affiliation or belief.” The policy protects freedom of religious speech and expression and provides for reasonable religious accommodations for students and faculty.

Hochul has also taken other steps to root out discrimination on campuses. In 2023, she created the New York State Anti-Hate in Education Center to address and eradicate any form of campus discrimination. She also directed officials to improve the state’s reporting of hate crime incidents, established a domestic terror prevention unit and conducted a review of state universities’ policies on discrimination.

“No one should fear for their safety while trying to get an education,” Hochul said in a press release. “It’s my top priority to ensure every New York student feels safe at school, and I will continue to take action against campus discrimination and use every tool at my disposal to eliminate hate and bias from our school communities.”

Japa Pallikkathayil, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh, gave a presentation entitled “How to Feel About Structural Injustice” and answered questions from the audience.

“The philosophy department regularly hosts lively colloquia at which invited speakers discuss their newest, cutting-edge research on hotly debated contemporary concerns,” wrote Anja Karnein, associate professor and graduate director of philosophy, and Anthony Reeves, associate professor and chair of the philosophy department at Binghamton University, in a joint statement. “Here, faculty and students mingle and openly discuss philosophy at the highest level of the profession. The talk by Japa Pallikkathayil, Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh, is a great example of this.”

At the start of the talk, Pallikkathayil provided a handout with a roadmap of her talk’s argumentative structure.

Pallikkathayil first addressed common reactions to structural injustice from a philosophical perspective, including feelings of resentment and righteous indignation. She then described a dilemma posed by David Estlund, a professor of philosophy at Brown University. According to Estlund’s theory, if structural injustice is merely bad, it would not warrant attitudes like resentment, a conclusion that is vulnerable to a “grievance challenge.”

If structural injustice is wrong only because of individual action, Estlund argues that many injustices cannot be classified as such because they are not explained solely by individual wrongdoing.

“This leaves the theorists of structural injustice with a really delicate needle to thread, right?” asked Pallikkathayil. “So they have to be able to explain why social causes matter, but in a way that doesn’t ultimately make it all about individual wrongdoing.”

The presentation then touched on how some replies to this dilemma have been inadequate. Resenting people for their contributions to structural injustice, for example, despite those people not being sole actors or the original cause of the injustice, is a situation she coined as “the mismatch problem.” Pallikkathayil continued, however, by objecting to other philosophers’ arguments, stating that they fail to seriously consider the risks involved in denying victims of structural injustice the space to grieve and react.

Pallikkathayil also argued that an important distinction exists between social structures that may be appropriately resented and those that are simply not as good as they could be. Estlund’s dilemma, she suggested, overlooks the possibility that structural injustice is neither wrong nor merely bad and it is possible to have legitimate expectations that can be disappointed.

To conclude her presentation, Pallikkathayil argued we should take an “associative perspective,” in which we can think of ourselves as participants in different kinds of associations, practices, institutions and structures.

“Insofar as these associations are not regulated by the relevant principles, they are apt targets of emotional responses — and I want to say in responses just like anger, blame and resentment,” said Pallikkathayil. “And I also want to just observe that associations might also go above and beyond what they’re required to do. So they might be the apt targets of emotional responses like gratitude.”

After a five-minute break, the audience reconvened for a Q&A session where students and faculty asked questions and critiqued parts of Pallikkathayil’s argument.

“Professor Pallikkathayil’s presentation combined two important topics: the moral demands that we can place on institutional structures, apart from the expectations that we have on individuals, and the connection between the aptness of our grievance attitudes and our attributions of agency,” Robert Guay, a professor of philosophy, wrote in a statement to Pipe Dream.

She both rejected and agreed with suggestions from audience members. Although structural injustice can call for proactive, forward-looking responses, she suggested that there is also room for simply resenting unjust events that have happened.

“Taking up the topic of structural injustice, injustice like racism or sexism that cannot be fully reduced to unjust individual actions, she argued against the recently defended view that it’s improper to feel aggrieved at certain aspects of structural injustice,” wrote Karnein and Reeves. “Roughly, if no one is to blame for some aspect of an injustice, then how can we properly feel indignant about it, even if we are its victims?”

“Often aspects of structural injustice can be explained by individuals or collectives acting wrongly, but not always,” they continued. “Against this type of sensibility, Pallikkathayil drew out the intuitive sense in which victims of structural injustice still seem properly indignant at the mere injustice: the mere fact of a failure to live up to principles of social justice is simply itself something that can be aggrieved, even if there is sometimes no agent that is the target of the specific grievance.”

Binghamton Police Chief Joseph Zikuski will step down following over two months of paid administrative leave and an ongoing investigation, according to an announcement from Mayor Jared Kraham.

Zikuski was placed on administrative leave after his girlfriend was involved in an altercation with two teenagers on July 18. According to a video that circulated on social media, Susan Rice, 44, reportedly approached two teenage boys on the front porch of a Johnson City home.

After arguing with the teenagers and making inflammatory comments like “What do you do, Section 8?” Rice walked onto the porch and punched both teens. The younger, 16-year-old boy, then struck her in the face, causing her to fall to the ground before being led away by Zikuski.

Rice received medical attention, while neither teen was injured. She was later arrested and charged by Johnson City police with trespass, harassment and endangering the welfare of a child.

“Yesterday, I accepted the resignation of Binghamton Police Chief Joseph T. Zikuski,” Kraham said in Tuesday’s press release. “He will step down from the Police Department and retire, effective Oct. 6. This comes as the independent investigation into factors surrounding a July 18 incident in Johnson City involving Zikuski and his girlfriend is concluding.”

In a July 23 press release, Kraham announced that an independent third-party investigation into Zikuski would take place, led by attorney Karl Sleight. A report from the investigation will be released shortly, according to Kraham.

Assistant Chief John C. Ryan served as acting police chief following the suspension. He will continue to stay in the role while the city appoints a permanent police chief in accordance with New York state civil service law.

Miles Burnett, the Democratic candidate for Binghamton’s upcoming mayoral race, called for community involvement and transparency in selecting the next chief.

“As the City moves forward, I believe it is vital that the process of choosing a new Chief includes meaningful community input,” Burnett said in a Sept. 30 press release. “Town halls, public hearings, and opportunities for residents to ask questions and share concerns should be central to this process. A transparent approach will ensure that whoever is chosen has the credibility and respect needed to lead effectively.”

“Decisions about public safety must always be made with the public’s voice at the center,” he continued. “Binghamton has an opportunity to set a higher standard of openness and accountability, and we cannot afford to fall short.”

In a Sept. 18 press release, Burnett criticized the delay in issuing an update and report. The investigation, which began late July, was initially expected to take 30 days, according to WSKG.

Zikuski has served as Binghamton’s police chief since 2008. In 2015, he was placed on administrative leave for over three months after sexual harassment allegations.

“As BPD makes this transition, the investments and changes we’ve made in the department to build a strong foundation are more important than ever,” Kraham said in the Sept. 30 press release. “As Mayor, I’m confident in the men and women who serve in our Police Department, and remain committed to the future of public safety in Binghamton.”

The podcast, titled “The Wellness Couch Podcast,” features various guest speakers and aims to support healthy living and student wellness on campus. The first three episodes featured guests from the Fleishman Center for Career and Professional Development, the Office for Student Transition and Success and the Dean of Students CARE Team. Students can view these 25-minute episodes, which will be put out twice a month, free of charge.

“We came up with the name ‘The Wellness Couch Podcast’ because our focus is all about wellness, and we want every listener to feel excited about being the next guest to sit on our ‘wellness couch’ and share how they’re incorporating wellness into their lives, academics, and student organizations,” wrote Chanel Jones, moderator of the podcast and mental health specialist for B-Healthy, in a statement to Pipe Dream.

B-Healthy was founded in 2012 with the goal of “making Binghamton University the healthiest campus.” According to its website, the initiative aims to foster an environment that supports the health and well-being of individuals and groups. The podcast launch follows the implementation of other B-Healthy initiatives such as Wellness Challenges, the Move Your Way program and free access to safe sex kits and menstrual products.

“Our goal is to meet students where they are, whether driving to class, hitting the gym, or walking across campus,” Jones wrote. “Wherever you are, you’ll have access to episodes that spark reflection, inspire growth, and encourage you to ask important questions about your wellbeing and your future.”

The podcast’s opening episode focused on putting “a personality” behind the University’s on-campus resources. Guest speaker Jennifer Weiss, a senior student engagement specialist at the Fleishman Center, guided students through the opportunities and resources the center provides and the benefits of understanding career options on well-being.

“This was a great platform to highlight the incredible resources and dedicated staff we have, and I would love the chance to do something like this again in the future!” Weiss told Pipe Dream in a statement.

Inspiration for the podcast came to Jones during a tabling session, where she discussed a B-Healthy project with an off-campus partner that encouraged students to journal their thoughts. The partner told Jones that her daughter records her reflections on audio rather than writing them down. She then suggested that Jones create a podcast for students.

In the second episode, mental health took center stage, with coordinators from the Office for Student Transition and Success as podcast guests. The episode focused on managing “crash outs” and ways students can manage stress and navigate their semester to get ahead of deadlines.

Looking to the future, Jones told Pipe Dream she wants to expand the listening audience and spotlight student-run organizations.

“In the coming months, we’re excited to host listening parties across campus, in the residence halls and the Union, where students can gather, enjoy snacks, listen to our newest episodes, and join in meaningful dialogue afterward,” Jones wrote. “We also plan to feature more student organizations, giving them the opportunity to share the incredible work they’re doing on campus and highlight how they are prioritizing wellness as student leaders.”

“Overall, we’re eager to see the podcast continue to grow, gain popularity, and make a lasting impact across campus,” she continued.

The bill, titled the “Keep the Lights Local Act,” would expand federal laws to prohibit foreign businesses and governments from owning public electric companies in the United States, eliminating the portion of bills that goes toward foreign corporate profits and reducing costs. In a press release, Riley named several foreign-owned utility monopolies in upstate New York, including New York State Electric and Gas, Central Hudson and National Grid.

“The foreign corporations who own our utility companies are raking in record profits while Upstate New Yorkers are getting crushed by utility bills,” Riley said in the press release. “NYSEG and Central Hudson alone have shipped hundreds of millions overseas, and then they come back to demand we pay even more.”

“That ends now,” he continued. “The Keep the Lights Local Act bans foreign corporations from owning our utility companies because Upstate New Yorkers shouldn’t be forced to subsidize foreign corporate profits. We’re taking our power back, literally.”

NYSEG is a utility company responsible for providing electricity and gas for over 1.9 million customers in upstate New York. The company is owned by Avangrid, an energy services and delivery enterprise that is a subsidiary of Iberdrola, a Spanish electric utility corporation based in Bilbao, Spain.

The legislation was introduced several months after Riley launched an investigation into utility companies’ billing practices after constituents complained about rising electricity costs. In April, he issued a formal request to NYSEG demanding access to customer billing and other data related to the price hikes.

According to Riley, NYSEG sent $450 million to Iberdrola earlier this year while the company simultaneously proposed rate increases in Upstate New York. NYSEG announced an average monthly bill increase of $11.34 for electricity customers and an average monthly bill increase of $4.10 for natural gas customers, effective in May 2025.

“As storms become stronger, communities grow, and our customers use the grid in new ways, 20th century infrastructure is being strained by 21st-century challenges,” NYSEG wrote to Pipe Dream in a statement. “As we have shared with the Congressman, the Iberdrola Group has backed NYSEG and RG&E with more than $1 billion in financing over the last decade, provided access to global supply chains that would otherwise be out of reach, and used bulk purchasing power to help get lower prices for supplies and equipment. Those facts speak for themselves, even if the Congressman chooses to ignore them.”

These price hikes have impacted Binghamton residents and NYSEG customers. In August, State Sen. Lea Webb ‘04 told Pipe Dream that many Binghamton residents were struggling with the increased cost of living and various challenges involving NYSEG’s billing practices.

“My first bill came for only the first three weeks, not a full month, and was higher than we expected,” Ella Sperry, a NYSEG customer and junior majoring in economics, wrote in a statement to Pipe Dream.

Riley also cited a need to secure the power grid from foreign threats in support of his new bill, claiming that state-sponsored hackers from Russia, China and Iran pose a threat to U.S. infrastructure and could potentially cause blackouts, sabotage power stations and compromise supply chains.

According to the press release, a New York State Public Service Commission audit found 128 deficiencies at NYSEG and Rochester Gas & Electric, both owned by Avangrid. The audit found that despite increased costs, the companies’ “cyber security program is not maturing as it should.”

Riley claims that the bill will hold power companies accountable to local communities, which will strengthen the power grid, lower costs and promote national security. NYSEG, on the other hand, opposes the bill and claims that Riley has mischaracterized the company and its employees.

“At a time when energy prices are rising across the nation, we are surprised the Congressman would propose such a radical approach that would reduce competition and raise costs on New Yorkers,” NYSEG wrote. “We need more energy investments, not less. The Congressman has the opportunity to affect real change at the federal level but is forsaking it for cheap shots that only serve to move us backwards.”

Garnar prepared the budget amid extensive federal funding cuts and an ongoing cost of living crisis, calling it “one of the most challenging budgets we’ve ever had to prepare.” The cost of living across the United States continues to rise, with the annual inflation rate reaching to 2.9 percent in August — the highest rate so far this year. As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the U.S. House of Representatives also voted to cut $7.5 billion in annual funding for New York State’s Essential Plan, which offers health care for lower-income individuals, and eventually decrease funding for social service programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

“Federal cuts to Medicaid and SNAP will shift major costs from Washington to states and counties,” Garnar wrote in a statement to Pipe Dream. “For Broome County, that means higher expenses, more administrative work, and greater strain on health and social services just as demand remains high.”

Garnar said the new budget would reduce the county’s discretionary spending by $3.5 million. He emphasized that these cuts would not impact public services and programs, but instead focus on items like office supplies and software purchases.

He also announced that his budget includes a 0.1 percent property tax cut for county residents, made possible by local property values increasing by 10.5 percent over the past year. The budget would also expand the senior citizen property tax exemption for the first time in over 20 years.

“Our seniors are the heart of Broome County,” said Garnar. “They’re the teachers, veterans, nurses, small business owners and parents who raised families here and stayed. They gave their energy and talent to build the neighborhoods and institutions we all benefit from today.”

Turning to housing, Garnar said over 1,000 housing units are currently under construction in the county. Last year, the county executive office launched a $5 million Housing and Economic Development Fund to support quality housing projects. Part of the funding was invested in transforming the Riverside Gardens site in Johnson City, the former site of Davis College, an evangelical Christian institute.

The lot will be transformed into 67 new apartments and more than 22,000 square feet of commercial space.

“The County Executive’s proposed budget makes it clear that housing and economic development remain top priorities for Broome County,” Anthony Fiala, the county’s commissioner of the Department of Planning and Economic Development, said in a statement to Pipe Dream. “Projects like Riverside Gardens and the Oakdale Commons are central to our efforts to revitalize neighborhoods, create jobs, and expand housing opportunities for local families, while also advancing Governor Hochul’s commitment to pro-housing communities.”

The large-scale renovation of Oakdale Commons will include a 125-unit workforce housing project, a new medical campus for Guthrie Lourdes and a child care facility.

The new budget will also increase operating funding to GiGi’s Playhouse, an organization dedicated to providing education and therapeutic services for people with Down syndrome. The expansion will include a workforce training program, increased classroom space and new storefronts to give trainees hands-on practice with customer service and work experience.

Katie Whaley, the site manager for GiGi’s Playhouse, told Pipe Dream there was a community need for a post-high school program.

“We have seen and heard firsthand from our families with adult individuals with Down syndrome that there is a need for continuing education and career development opportunities once our individuals graduate from high school,” Whaley wrote to Pipe Dream. “This kind of programming would equip our participants to continue to work on important skills that will carry them throughout the stages of their life that follows graduating from high school!”

The expansion was funded through the county’s Small Community Grant Program, which provides funding for local organizations to launch community projects. The budget includes an additional $500,000 for the program to “launch innovative, community-driven projects.”

“Budgets aren’t just numbers on a page,” Garnar concluded. “They’re a reflection of our values. This one says we believe in our young people. We believe in safe, quality housing. We believe in strong neighborhoods and good jobs. We believe in taking care of our seniors, our veterans, and our families. And we believe that even when times are tough, Broome County can keep moving forward together.”

The video shows Burnett in front of a webcam discussing the lyrics to “Smell Yo Dick,” a rap song by Riskay. In the nearly minute-long clip obtained by Pipe Dream, Burnett, who is white, repeated the N-word twice when analyzing one of the song’s verses.

When quoting one lyric of the song that uses the N-word, Burnett said, “He’s Black, it’s just a word for individual.” Later, while explaining a line from the song’s chorus that talks about a man coming home at “Five in the morn’,” Burnett said, “That’s ‘morning’ for you people who do not speak ‘ethnic.’”

Earlier this week, Burnett apologized and expressed regret for the video, which he said was recorded while he was “an adolescent child.” In a Sept. 24 Facebook post, Burnett claimed he was 14 when the video was posted and added that he would not do the same now as an adult.

“Those words were not appropriate then, and they are not appropriate now,” he said. “I got into this race to fight for a better Binghamton for everyone and that’s what I will continue to do.”

Mayor Jared Kraham, who faces reelection for a second term, condemned the video and said it should disqualify Burnett from the race. He also claimed Burnett was nearly 17 when he uploaded the video, not 14.

On Sept. 25, in response to Kraham’s comments, the Binghamton City Democratic Committee released a press statement with a link to a 2007 article about standardized testing that Kraham wrote while in high school.

The City Democratic Committee accused Kraham of “demeaning the intelligence of the black community” in the article, which was focused on standardized testing and its potential limitations. After describing his experience taking the SAT, Kraham said in the article that tests and quizzes have become a major metric that high schools use to evaluate how much students “learned” about a subject.

“Schools have to use tests to ‘standardize’ their teaching practices, even though it’s believed more and more today that tests might not be the best tool to judge the amount of material learned by a single student,” Kraham wrote in the article. “One good thing that standardized tests have done is to tell us that white, suburban, American kids are smarter than black, inner-city, American kids year after year.”

“Did you miss it?” he continued. “Let’s review that sentence: ‘One good thing that standardized tests have done is to tell us that white, suburban, American kids are smarter than black, inner-city, American kids year after year.’”

On Friday, Kraham told Pipe Dream that he was “mocking and criticizing” the idea that standardized test scores accurately reflect how much students really learn through satire.

In a post on X, the Broome County Republicans called Burnett’s video “abhorrent” and called on all elected Democrats in the county to condemn it. Benji Federman, the party’s chairman, told The New York Post that Burnett’s “hateful language and nonstop lies make him utterly unfit for public office.”

Comment requests have been sent to the Binghamton University College Democrats and College Republicans.

Karen Beebe, chair of the Broome County Democrats, said in a statement that there was “no excuse” for the video and commended Burnett for apologizing.

“I believe that children grow up and learn to be better adults,” Beebe said. “Miles is a strong and thoughtful leader who has made a deep impact on our community. He is the only candidate in this race committed to making Binghamton better for ALL residents.”

The partnership with Owego Free Academy will last throughout the 2025-2026 academic year. Around 86 students from the Ernst & Young Student Leaders Program, which helps develop students into future business leaders, will lead one-on-one mentoring sessions with the high schoolers.

College mentors and OFA students will be divided into four cohorts: first-year students will mentor Owego seniors through the college admissions process; sophomores will lead sessions on resume building, mock interviews and LinkedIn profile editing; juniors will help students consult with Hawkeye Graphics, a “student-led graphic design and print shop” at OFA; and seniors will serve as program advisors.

Phil Schofield ‘09, MAT ‘10, OFA’s principal, told Pipe Dream that he believes the new program will help students explore their future career paths and build key soft skills.

“In today’s rapidly changing world, academic knowledge alone is no longer enough to prepare students for long-term success,” Schofield wrote in an email. “Building communication, teamwork, adaptability, and problem-solving is just as critical. These skills form the foundation for thriving in both higher education and the workforce. They influence how individuals interact with others, navigate challenges, and contribute meaningfully to any team or organization.”

“I believe this partnership could benefit the EY students just as much as our students at Owego,” he continued.

The idea for the partnership was first proposed by Olivia Pasquale ‘12, MPA ’17, director of the EY Student Leaders Program. Pasquale, who is also the director of career services at SOM, told Pipe Dream her role is to ensure the OFA partnership provides “high-quality mentorship” to students and aligns with the broader objectives of the leadership program.

The project is co-led by Hailey Chin, the EY social impact chair and a sophomore majoring in business administration, and Matthew Qu, the vice president of social impact and a junior majoring in accounting.

In an interview with Pipe Dream, Qu stressed the importance of students developing networking and communication skills early on, even before entering the workforce.

“With the way that the job market currently is, the earlier you can start, the better,” Qu said. “And so getting exposure to these sorts of things, regardless of what field you’re in, eventually everyone probably is going to have to get a job. And so, by learning even anything now, is a little head start above the rest of the people around you. So, that’s our incentive there.”

Last Thursday, Chin and Qu officially launched the project at OFA’s career center. Over three class periods, they taught students from eighth to 12th grade how to network and make elevator pitches.

To participate in the EY program, first or second-year students can apply in the spring semester for admission in the fall. Some prospective SOM students can also be invited before their freshman year begins.

If successful, the project, funded with support from EY alumni, will run annually at OFA and potentially other high schools in the region. Qu wrote that the EY program was also coordinating a trip with OFA students to the University toward the end of the semester.

“It’s been rewarding to see how this program not only supports Owego students in reaching their goals but also strengthens our university students’ leadership and sense of community,” Pasquale wrote. “I’m proud of the impact we’re making together.”

Through pressure from graduate student workers, new campus-based raises are expected starting January 2026. The University announced last week that the base stipend given to all doctoral students in fully funded teaching or graduate assistant programs will increase to $25,000 per academic year. Since the increase will start in the middle of the academic year, current students will receive $12,500 paid over 10 periods during the spring semester.

“A huge proportion of the work that makes institutions like BU able to function is performed by graduate students,” said Camille Gagnier, then-president of BU’s GSEU chapter and a sixth-year Ph.D. student in the Translation Research and Instruction Program, in a November 2024 statement to Pipe Dream. “And that is even more and more true over the years because as a cost-cutting measure, administrations tend to reallocate work that used to be done by tenured professors who demand higher pay. They’re moving that work and giving it instead to more precarious workers who have less power to demand fair pay.”

The new base stipend represents a $4,000 increase compared to the $21,000 base the University offered some doctoral students back in February. This will apply to both STEM and non-STEM programs, eliminating pay disparities based on field of work. Graduate and teaching assistants who are not in a doctoral program will receive a minimum of $18,000 for a full-time assistantship, beginning July 2026.

This increased baseline payment still falls short of the minimum living wage needed in Broome County, estimated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to be around $40,000 annually.

Since their previous agreement with SUNY and New York state expired in July 2023, GSEU members have met with representatives and held rallies to raise awareness of their new contract demands. In June 2025, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the ratification of an updated three-year contract that will run until July 1, 2026.

Part of the Communications Workers of America Local 1104, the GSEU is a union that has represented and negotiated wages, benefits and working conditions for graduate and teaching assistants across SUNY campuses since 1977. The new contract includes guaranteed raises for SUNY graduate workers, including a 3 percent raise for October 2023 and 2024, and an additional $1,500 signing bonus in October 2025.

Since the duration of the contract runs from July 2023 to July 2026, members who worked in the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 academic years will receive retroactive back pay for those years worked. All workers will receive the additional raise this October.

Other wins for the GSEU in the contract include expanded professional development funding and 12 weeks of fully paid parental leave. International students who must leave and renew their visas during the academic year are also guaranteed job protection for up to one semester.

“While we wanted a longer contract, we were able to trade the length of the contract for victories today,” GSEU Binghamton wrote in an email to its members back in May. “We will build on these victories in the next round of negotiations.”

Kraham’s plan would have reallocated Community Development Block Grant money for two emergency response vehicles and new firefighting gear. On Aug. 27, the council deadlocked 3-3 on the plan, as Councilwoman Kinya Middleton, who represents the second district, was not present at the meeting.

At a Sept. 8 work session, Councilwoman Rebecca Rathmell, who represents the sixth district, offered a new proposal after speaking with community members and the president of the Binghamton Professional Firefighters Association Local 729. Her plan would draw $141,000 from the city’s general fund, which Rathmell believed was the “most appropriate source” of funding.

“The city’s general fund, like every municipal general fund, is designed to cover essential services when unexpected expenditures or budget shortfalls come up,” Rathmell said at the work session. “And one of the most common uses of any general fund is public safety.”

Under this proposal, the fire department would receive almost $217,000 less than Kraham’s initial ask, with the funds to be used only for purchasing the requested gear. Kraham must now approve the funding.

Rathmell told the Press & Sun Bulletin that she encouraged Binghamton City Fire Chief Alan Gardiner to request funding for the emergency vehicles in the 2026 budget and that the council would approve the proposal.

“The turnout gear is a critical need in order to maintain the fire department’s compliance with National Fire Protection Association regulations, but CDBG was not the appropriate source,” Rathmell said at the work session.

Deputy Mayor Megan Heiman told Pipe Dream that the city’s Community Development Advisory Committee met last week and recommended that the originally proposed funding of $357,685 be transferred to the fire department.

In a statement to WBNG, Kraham said the city council’s plan “falls short of meeting the department’s equipment needs” and would risk the public safety of City of Binghamton residents.

“I’m once again asking that Council approve the full funding for the Fire Department, without any further delay,” Kraham said. “Our first responders — and the residents they serve — deserve that.”

Rathmell and other city councilmembers criticized Kraham for proposing to reallocate Community Development Block Grant funds instead of spending them on affordable housing development. In an Aug. 28 press conference, Kraham said the money in question “was not allocated for housing” but was unspent funds for administrative costs and salary lines that cannot be recouped.

Rathmell said the city has over $700,000 in unspent Community Development Block Grant funds. While she acknowledged the city faced “threats of recision” from the federal government, she thought it was “disingenuous” for Kraham to argue that the funds must be spent now.

“[There is a] difference between this funding sitting there for six years and this council having a month-and-a-half to consider, in light of timeliness concerns but also very critical affordable housing needs locally, how to appropriately spend this money,” Rathmell said. “That’s if we had an administration that was committed to collaboration rather than one that just throws resolutions out and hopes we don’t have the time to figure out alternatives.”

At the meeting, Rathmell discussed two bills that would appropriate Community Development Block Grant funding toward two initiatives addressing local housing issues. Her first plan would modernize affordable housing units built before 1985 to address the health and safety concerns of tenants. According to the January 2024 Broome County Housing Needs Assessment, the average age of local affordable housing development buildings is 40 years old.

Rathmell said she felt this issue went unaddressed by the Binghamton Housing Authority. Last month, BHA tenants created a petition and threatened a rent strike in response to unsafe living conditions.

The other bill would establish a “proactive code rehabilitation assistance program” to assist rental property owners in addressing health and safety issues that are identified during the Proactive Rental Housing Inspection program, which is being considered by the council.

The proposals were sent for further review at a later planning committee meeting.

“I will only add that the question remains unsettled, and neither of the presented spending proposals is likely to move forward, which would seem to present the opportunity and need for a compromise solution,” Councilman Robert Cavanaugh II, who represents the third district, wrote in an email.

Last week, ICE officials arrested two men in Johnson City, with an agency spokesperson telling WSKG that they lacked “the proper documents to remain” in the country. Residents on social media platforms have also reported other ICE arrests in the Greater Binghamton area.

In a statement released last week, Mayor Jared Kraham indicated that ICE activity was taking place without any involvement from the Binghamton Police Department.

“I’ll again share my position from weeks ago — the Binghamton Police Department will not partner with ICE on these types of enforcement activities, nor will Binghamton police officers be allowed to serve as task force agents for ICE,” Kraham said. “Further, BPD has not and will not participate in ICE’s 287(g) program, which allows local agencies to partner with ICE on certain enforcement matters.”

ICE did not return Pipe Dream’s request for comment.

On Jan. 20, shortly after his inauguration for a second term, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to “faithfully execute the immigration laws against all inadmissible and removable aliens.” The directive also ordered the secretary of homeland security to legally facilitate partnerships with state and local officials to assist in federal immigration enforcement.

These agreements, known as the 287(g) program, come in three different models and are authorized under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.

In March, the Broome County Sheriff’s Office announced it would participate in the Warrant Service Officer program, which allows state and local law enforcement “to serve and execute administrative warrants on aliens in their agency’s jail,” according to the program’s website.

A spokesperson for Sheriff Fred Akshar told Pipe Dream that his office “has not been involved with any immigration enforcement in the community” and that any warrants issued would be for individuals already in the correctional facility.

As of Sept. 19, the facility held 51 ICE detainees and 26 U.S. Marshals Service detainees. The number of detainees “fluctuate[s] frequently,” according to Ashkar’s office, and is not connected to participation in the 287(g) program.

State Sen. Lea Webb ‘04 and Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo MA ‘84 called ICE’s presence “unwelcome” in the community.

“Many of those being targeted have come to our country to provide a better life for their families and are doing jobs few people are interested in,” said Webb and Lupardo in a joint statement last week. “They deserve a pathway to citizenship rather than the unjust, inhumane treatment we are seeing with these raids.”

On Sept. 11, over 150 activists and community members gathered at the United Presbyterian Church of Binghamton to listen to four panelists discuss Akshar’s participation in the 287(g) program and how new arrestees are treated in the county jail.

One of the panelists discussed the “New York for All” act, a proposed bill that would prohibit local and law enforcement officials statewide from signing agreements with ICE. States like California and Washington have enacted laws restricting certain officials from partnering with federal immigration enforcement and asking questions about residents’ citizenship status.

Miles Burnett, a Democrat running for mayor of Binghamton, claimed in a Facebook post that he would support passing a law to officially prohibit the city’s police department from cooperating with ICE if he was elected.

Nationwide, immigrant rights activists have also expressed concern about the possibility of ICE agents using racial profiling tactics. On Sept. 8, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted an injunction placed by a federal district court that prevented immigration agents from stopping people in the Los Angeles area if those stops were based on any of the following factors: an individual’s presence at certain locations like bus stops, agricultural sites and car washes; “the type of work one does;” “speaking Spanish or English with an accent;” and “apparent race or ethnicity.”

The American Civil Liberties Union and the American Immigration Council said the decision allows for racial profiling to be used in immigration raids, while the Department of Homeland Security said the federal government enforces the law “without fear, favor, or prejudice.”

Hussein Adams, executive director and CEO of the American Civic Association, told Pipe Dream that ICE activity nationwide has instilled fear in the local immigrant community. He said that many immigration agents wear face masks and do not have body cameras, which he said creates fear and distrust of law enforcement.

The ACA can provide immigrants with various services, including naturalization assistance, status adjustments and connections with potential employers.

ICE has also reportedly placed U.S. citizens in its custody. Over the summer, immigration officials allegedly arrested several Americans in California, including a 23-year-old pregnant woman.

“As Mayor, I believe Binghamton’s police resources should be focused on neighborhood safety and crime, not civil immigration enforcement, and certainly not performative or incendiary law enforcement activity that erodes trust in our communities,” Kraham said.

“ICE should be transparent, quickly, in what arrests have been made and where they have been operating in our community,” he continued.

The budget seeks to address several issues facing the city, including an affordable housing crisis, aging infrastructure and crime. Robert Cavanaugh II, a councilman representing the third district, told Pipe Dream the council will now begin a 45-day-long process to review and amend the budget proposal. They will also hold public hearings with leaders from each city department and solicit feedback from residents about the budget.

“Real change — the hardest kind to deliver — is strategic and deliberate,” Kraham said in his address. “We want to be a City under construction. A city transforming. A city of promise and hope. We have to keep fighting for that change, and the 2026 Budget speaks to those goals.”

After explaining some of the city’s revenue sources and planned expenditures, Kraham addressed funding for public safety. His budget allocates $16.1 million to the Binghamton Police Department to address equipment needs and fund the police force.

He said violent crime has decreased by 30 percent during his tenure and that index crime, which includes offenses like murder and robbery, “is at its lowest levels on record.” Addressing issues with understaffing, Kraham said the police department will be fully staffed by the end of next year.

In line with these goals, Kraham wants to allocate $100,000 to a mobile crisis response program where licensed mental health professionals are dispatched to the scene on police calls. The funding will help provide vehicles, gear, training and upstart support. The budget would also create a new city attorney position to support the police and fire departments by “navigating the legal side of public safety issues.”

“I will be interested to see how their budget aligns with the police reform and reinvention collaborative report that they put out in 2021 to make sure that the budget is aligning with the goals set forward in that,” Councilwoman Hadassah Mativetsky ‘07, MS ‘12 said in an interview with Pipe Dream.

The budget will also allocate $12.3 million to the Binghamton Fire Department to replace an outdated fire truck and purchase new hazmat and utility trucks. Kraham said he is working with Rep. Josh Riley to secure federal grant funding to build a new fire station in the city’s North Side neighborhood.

Last month, the city council failed to approve Kraham’s proposed plan [HYPERLINK: https://www.bupipedream.com/news/binghamton-city-council-fails-to-approve-funding-transfer-to-the-citys-fire-department/169222/] to transfer $357,685 in federal Community Development Block Grant funding to the fire department for the purchase of new vehicles and firefighting equipment. On Sept. 10, the council unanimously voted to transfer $141,000 from the city’s general fund to the fire department, which Kraham said fell “short of meeting the department’s equipment needs” in a statement to 12 News.

Later in the speech, Kraham honored John R. Gaudet, the firefighter who was killed on Feb. 12 while battling a fire on Main Street by the Court Street Bridge, and commended the fire department for its support and courage.

“J.R.’s sacrifice serves as a tragic reminder of the dangers that our first responders face every day,” Kraham said. “In the wake of this tragedy, our Fire Department’s rallying support for J.R.’s family — and each other — will be remembered as one of the finest acts of compassion in the department’s nearly two-century history.”

Moving onto housing, Kraham reported a record-breaking $56.7 million total investment in residential construction last year. The city plans to break ground on new housing projects in the coming months, with more projects awaiting state funding.

To combat unfair landlord practices, the city will hire a second code prosecutor and a new paralegal to prosecute abusive landlords and repeat violators. The budget includes $300,000 to expand efforts to combat urban decay and demolish tax-foreclosed properties that have been in legal limbo since the pandemic.

He also announced a $10 million investment in infrastructure improvements like paving roads, fixing sidewalks and replacing aging water and sewer infrastructure. The city will also spend $3 million to install a whole-plant generator system at the City’s Water Filtration Plant, which would keep clean water flowing even if the plant loses power.

Kraham also highlighted the importance of community development with proposed investments into recreation and parks. After hearing from community members, a splash pad will be installed as a kid-friendly summer attraction in the city’s First Ward. Upgraded basketball courts at Webster Street Park and a new roof at the Recreation Park poolhouse will also be installed.

“Looking toward 2026, the City of Binghamton’s opportunities are endless,” Kraham concluded. “Let’s seize them. This budget provides the resources to do it. Let’s get to work.”

Baci and Ianni’s Trattoria, located at 201 State St., will provide a “fine dining experience” for a lower price, according to head chef Amarissa Scelsi. In 2023, Scelsi met with Mark Yonaty, a local businessman who co-owns several other restaurants in the area, including Station 45 American Chophouse, The Black Sheep Tavern, Garage Taco Bar, Scoopy Dooby’s Ice Cream and Courtside Bar and Grill. The new pasta bar will replace the old Social on State, a popular restaurant and cocktail lounge, also owned by Yonaty, which closed in 2023.

Influenced by her Italian roots, Scelsi crafted the menu and told Pipe Dream she wanted to deliver something beyond more typical, Americanized dishes.

“Our entrees are going to be eight different pasta dishes,” said Scelsi, who attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. “They’re all a different kind of pasta sauce and protein, and then two of those dishes are vegetarian as well. And then pretty much all of the dishes are interchangeable with a gluten-free option of pasta.”

The restaurant’s name combines the Italian word “baci,” which means “kiss” in English and is the name of Yonaty’s dog, and Ianni, which is Scelsi’s grandmother’s maiden name.

The restaurant will also focus on providing a quality dining experience at a reasonable price for local residents and Binghamton University students. Scelsi said none of the plates will be over $40, with the priciest pasta on the menu being a seafood dish. Most of the other courses will be around $30 and come in hearty portions, she added.

“I embrace the University in our community — they are a major part of our community,” said Yonaty. “Even though you’re somewhat guests in our community for four years, it’s important that your experience of Binghamton is wonderful. Coming with that, it can’t only be nightlife like bars, but it should be coffee shops and fun restaurants and arcades. There should be a lot for a college student to do.”

On Aug. 29, Yonaty told the Press & Sun Bulletin that the restaurant will open within 60 days.

“We have very high expectations,” Scelsi said in an interview with the Press & Sun Bulletin. “That’s why it’s just taken a decent amount of time. We’re very excited to be open. I know a lot of people waiting to go to the restaurant, and I’m very excited about it.”

As the restaurant will open in the Downtown Arts District, Yonaty and Scelsi decided to commission three murals inside the restaurant that will feature views into different parts of Italy, including a depiction of the Roman Colosseum.

Scelsi, a Vestal native, has been working in the local restaurant industry since she was 15 years old, when she began working at PS Restaurant, a fine dining establishment owned by her aunt and uncle.

Yonaty and Scelsi hope to distinguish Baci and Ianni’s from other businesses in the area and offer employment for locals and students, creating a space where every generation can enjoy good food.

“I want people to be able to come in when their parents come and visit,” Scelsi said. “They know, ‘Hey, Mom and Dad, we can go to this place. It’s really good. They have great drinks, it’s a great price point and it’s just a fun atmosphere.”

Administrative Judge Eugene Faughnan and District Executive Porter Kirkwood answered questions and talked to residents about the important functions their offices perform within the county legal system. State Sen. Lea Webb ‘04 was initially scheduled to attend but was unable to come.

In addition to serving as a trial judge, Faughnan is in charge of New York’s Sixth Judicial District, which covers Broome County and nine others throughout the Southern Tier. Kirkwood said his office supports the judge in handling administrative matters.

Christina Olevano, the district’s access and equal justice coordinator, led the town hall and began by reading some submitted questions. The first question raised asked how the justice system worked with community organizations outside the courtroom. In response, Kirkwood brought up an October 2020 report commissioned by Jeh Johnson, the U.S. secretary of homeland security from 2013 to 2017, which recommended expanding antibias training and improving diversity and inclusion within hiring.

Kirkwood discussed a recent shift within the courts to prioritize “customer service” and increase visibility within the community, mentioning a recent gathering with local faith leaders and community outreach events across the district.

Faughnan shared how the courts are simplifying certain forms and procedures to improve readability and accessibility. When speaking to new judges, he noted that he often emphasizes the importance of explaining the legal process to underrepresented individuals.

“Just taking that extra time, rather than just saying, ‘You don’t have what you need, case dismissed,’” Faughnan said. “We don’t do that. That’s not our approach at all. That’s not customer service, and that’s why the customer service is for everyone in the court system, including the elected judges.”

Court employees attend mandatory training on cultural consciousness and understanding. They also participated in a poverty simulator to understand the challenges people face when navigating the justice system.

Faughnan added that court employees have gone to high schools and colleges in the Southern Tier to advertise career opportunities, which can create a more diverse and talented workforce. While many jobs in the court system require applicants to take various tests, some do not and rely instead on factors like relevant background experience.

Members of the audience were also allowed to ask questions or make comments. One resident who retired from working in the court system said that recently installed artwork displays in the buildings can help build an inclusive atmosphere within the courts.

A presentation on legal resources followed. Chris Lund, the principal law librarian for the Sixth Judicial District, highlighted some of the legal help services available to residents who contact one of the court system’s help centers.

Next up was a presentation on alternative dispute resolution given by Jamie Smith, the district’s alternative dispute resolution coordinator. Smith said local courts offer several ways for many individuals to resolve legal disputes without going to trial.

Finally, a staff attorney from the Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York shared how the organization can provide free legal resources for people with low incomes.

“In partnering with local agencies and the courts we strive to help close the justice gap experienced by low-income persons and other vulnerable persons within the community,” Arlene Sanders, managing attorney at the Legal Aid Society, wrote to Pipe Dream after the town hall. “Outreaches such as these are a good way to expand our ability to connect with these populations.”

The talk, titled “Gaza Beyond the Strip: Histories and Possibilities of a Middle East Borderland,” was the first in a planned three-part series to foster dialogue and discuss solutions for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The roundtable featured Dotan Halevy, a senior lecturer and assistant professor at Tel Aviv University’s Department of Middle Eastern and African History, who explored the history of Gaza from pre-1948 Mandatory Palestine to the present day.

“What is Gaza anyway, when it is not a strip?” Halevy asked the audience. “A city, a district, a geographical area? What is the natural space, if there is one, to which Gaza belongs?”

“To begin examining this, we must ask, what was Gaza before the Gaza Strip?” he continued. “That is, what was Gaza before the Palestinian Nakba of 1948, when the strip was created as an enclave containing 200,000 Palestinian refugees?

The Nakba refers to the forced displacement of Palestinians in the wake of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Following the war, around 750,000 Palestinians were displaced from their homes and thousands were killed. Of those displaced, tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees fled to the area around the Gaza Strip, under Egyptian control at the time.

Halevy said the collective memories shared by Gazans over the past seven decades have cemented a common identity. He added that both Israelis and Palestinians could not imagine a future layout of the region without the Gaza Strip.

“The most crucial question to ask now regarding the future of Palestine and Israel is whether the destruction of Gaza and the genocide of its people will change this perception,” said Halevy. “This is a critical question for any peace-seeking human being, because even if the war stops today, the Gaza Strip on the eve of the seventh of October 2023 no longer exists, and there is no way back to it.”

Halevy highlighted the increased death toll in Gaza and the destruction of political and administrative institutions, residential buildings, agricultural areas, hospitals and water plants. On Tuesday, an independent United Nations commission released a 72-page report that concluded Israel “committed four genocidal acts” in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023.

Lior Libman, associate professor of Israeli studies and director of Binghamton University’s CIS, explained the importance of the talk series and the department’s responsibility to educate students on Israeli involvement in the region.

“The motto I picked for this series is a line from Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot’ that resonates with me,” said Libman. “It says, ‘Was I sleeping when others suffered? Am I sleeping now?’ I felt that as a center that deals with Israel studies, we cannot ignore the major events that are going on in the region and what Israel is doing, and being involved in, and we have to teach our students and educate our students about the realities, the histories and the possibilities on the other side of the border.”

Since the Oct. 7 attacks, various student organizations on campus have organized in support of Israel and the Palestinian people. Last year, students set up an encampment on the Peace Quad in solidarity with Palestinians and to call on the University to divest from the defense industry.

The encampment came weeks after the Student Association passed a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions resolution calling on the University to end partnerships with Israel and divest from defense companies. The SA Congress repealed the resolution last October.

Libman said the second roundtable will feature an aid worker from Doctors Without Borders, allowing students to learn about the humanitarian crisis in the region. The third speaker is expected to feature an eyewitness voice who can provide a firsthand account of what Palestinians are experiencing.

“I wanted students to get to know Gaza,” said Libman. “To learn, to know that it has a history, that it has a story, and that it can have a future that is different than just taking it over, like some nationalists would want. And then recognize the rights, the humanity and needs of everyone between the river and the sea, Jews and Palestinians.”

Throughout October, the SA will partner with the Vice President for Student Success office, Services for Students with Disabilities and the Disabled Student Union to host events for student organizations looking to increase accessibility in email messaging. Guidelines have also been posted on the SA website under its “Accessibility in Digital Media” page.

The required accommodations include: adding alternative text to any pictures or videos attached in emails; using descriptive subject lines; maintaining “sufficient color contrast” between the text and background; using simple, accessible fonts like sans serif; using headers for longer emails; and avoiding tables. Additionally, organizations are encouraged to test their emails with a screen reader to ensure accessibility.

The SA has previously released guidance on how to create accessible social media posts by things like adding captions on videos, minimizing emoji usage or capitalizing the first letter of each word in a hashtag.

“It is important students learn how to make these adjustments and put them into standard practice, so it will be easier to pass down this knowledge and emphasis on accessibility for the greater campus community,” Janmariz Deguia, the SA’s accessibility liaison and a senior majoring in human development, wrote in an email to Pipe Dream.

The accessibility liaison operates in the Vice President for Student Success office and helps connect clubs with other accessibility resources on campus.

In April 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice finalized a law requiring all local and state governments, including public universities, to ensure their web content and mobile apps are accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act by April 2026.

From 2023 to 2024, about 2,310 Binghamton University students self-identified as having one or more disabilities, according to New York’s Department of Education. Of those students, 294 have a disability that requires them to use readers, note takers or instructional materials in an altered format.

Organizations wishing to participate in this accessibility campaign will be entered into a raffle. At the end of October, organizations will be selected and receive a $100 grant. The SA will vet all emails from those organizations sent in October to confirm that the winners followed the accessibility guidelines.

“The campaign is all about showing students how simple it is to make digital promotional materials accessible,” Kristina Donders, the current vice president for student success and a senior double-majoring in mathematics and political science, wrote in an email. “As the University works toward making all digital content accessible, the SA is committed to staying ahead of the curve and following suit.”

The SA plans to host presentations and office hours for organizations interested in learning these guidelines. These presentations will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 1 and Wednesday, Oct. 22, from 4 to 5 p.m. in University Union 122.

Beyond the SA, the SSD office coordinates accommodations in the classroom and around campus, working individually with students to identify their specific needs.

“Binghamton University is unwavering in its commitment to ensuring an inclusive environment for all students, including those with digital accessibility needs and/or disabilities,” wrote Christen Szymanski, the director of SSD. “For the past two years, SSD and the SA have partnered to raise accessibility awareness, and I am thrilled to see this continue.”

In 2021, the Broome County Department of Health and the Broome County Adult Immunization Coalition created the awards to recognize organizations that have successfully promoted vaccinations in Broome County. The award reflects a clinic’s immunization rate and spotlights its efforts in prioritizing patient health and contributing to community well-being. Clinics that achieve the highest pediatric or adolescent vaccination rate and those nominated for promoting immunizations are eligible to receive an award.

“The goal of recognizing Immunization Champions is to celebrate the hard work they put in to keep Broome County healthy, and to inspire others to take creative approaches to improve immunization coverage,” wrote Chelsea Reome-Nedlik, supervising public health educator at the county’s health department.

The childhood immunization rate is determined by the number of patients who were given their 4:3:1:3:3:1:4 series routine vaccines by their second birthday, Reome-Nedlik wrote. The series includes four doses of the diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis vaccine; three doses of the polio vaccine; one dose of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine; three doses of the Haemophilus influenzae B vaccine; three hepatitis B vaccine doses; one shot to protect against varicella, or chickenpox; and four doses to protect against Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Meanwhile, the adolescent immunization rate measures how many adolescents have received one dose of the Tdap vaccine; a shot of meningitis protecting against serogroups A, C, W and Y; and a vaccine protecting against human papillomavirus by their 13th birthday.

Vaccines protect individuals and communities through a medical phenomenon known as herd immunity, which occurs when most of the population develops immunity to a disease. Herd immunity lessens the possibility of a pathogen infecting vulnerable individuals and spreading within the population Vaccines have played a vital role in reducing or even eradicating a plethora of once-prevalent diseases in the United States, including measles, polio and smallpox.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that childhood immunization, specifically, prevents approximately four million deaths each year. Despite this, approximately 14 million children under the age of 1 remain unvaccinated today.

In recent years, the conversation around vaccinations has become increasingly contentious, as the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has cut $500 million funding for mRNA vaccine research and directed the CDC to no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccines to healthy children and pregnant women. He also fired the CDC’s entire 17-member Advisory Panel on Immunization Practices.

On Sept. 4, Kennedy defended his decisions at a U.S. Senate Finance Committee hearing. Bill Cassidy, a Republican senator from Louisiana and a medical physician, criticized Kennedy for his recent policies and claimed that they will result in denying people access to vaccines. Some members expressed concerns about Kennedy’s dismissal of Susan Monarez, the CDC’s director, after she spent only a month officially in office. A group of senators serving on the committee, all of whom are Democrats, criticized Kennedy.

The county health department has worked with local healthcare organizations to host vaccine education events for the public. Among these is a “Teddy Bear Clinic” event, held at local libraries for children to understand what to expect when getting a vaccine.

“For most of those who work in public health or healthcare, the incentive to perform well is the well-being of their patients or community,” Reome-Nedlik wrote.

Held on Thursday, the panel, “The Unexpected Gift of Conflict: How Intergenerational Trust Powers Transformative Change,” centered around the potential for intergenerational cooperation to transform conflict into opportunities for change. It was the first of three public presentations that I-GMAP plans to host as part of its visiting practitioner program, where atrocity prevention practitioners visit the Greater Binghamton area for one week and engage with students, faculty and the local community.

Prelis is the director of children and youth programs at Search for Common Ground, an international conflict transformation organization. He has 25 years of experience in leading global efforts to build intergenerational collaboration and trust in over 35 countries, successfully co-leading advocacy for three United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for youth needs to be centered in conflict mitigation. In 2017, he received the Luxembourg Peace Prize for Outstanding Peace Support for his work.

“Young people, people in their teens and twenties, play a really key role in promoting human rights and in building more peaceful, more just societies around the world,” Kerry Whigham, founding co-director of I-GMAP and an associate professor of public administration, said. “And that’s a really important message for our students to hear, especially because it shows that all over the world, young people and students have been key in transforming societies and making them more just and more peaceful. Hopefully that’s something that can inspire students today, when we’re living through some really difficult moments nationally, but also globally, when it comes to human rights protections.”

The panel began with a land acknowledgement honoring the Oneida and Onondaga nations. Prelis then opened the talk by discussing his upbringing in Sri Lanka, a country that suffered through civil war from 1983 to 2009.

During this time, Prelis explained that he witnessed both the horrific atrocities and courageous acts humans carry out during conflict. He described watching one of his friends be killed during the conflict, which led him to choose not to avenge his murder. These experiences led Prelis to become an advocate for conflict resolution.

Prelis highlighted the importance of viewing conflict beyond the surface level to grow, reflecting on how it can be an “unexpected gift.”

“If you only see the conflict as an ugly thing that is dangerous and bad, then you’re only going to see more bad things,” Prelis said. “But if you see the silver lining in it, no matter how ugly it might be, then we are able to also see through these processes and see the possibilities as well.”

Prelis also compared conflict to a controlled fire that can awaken individuals and prompt them to focus on crucial societal issues. When conflict turns violent, however, it can spiral and become detrimental to society.

During the talk, Prelis listed areas where the median age of the population was younger than 20, like Sub-Saharan Africa, where the median age is 19, and the Sahel region of Africa, where the median is 15, both as of 2023. He then highlighted a large gap between these medians and representation in government, saying that only 2.7 percent of government officials worldwide are under 30. This can create discrepancies in perspectives between the population and the government, he said.

Prelis explained the importance of interconnectedness, arguing that youth voices can be built in a network with other aspects of society. Despite their differences, all people across different demographics and age groups desire an improved society and can work together with a shift in understanding, Prelis said, and that these coalitions will grow stronger as trust is built over time.

When asked by Pipe Dream how young people can implement these ideas into the local community, Prelis outlined four things for students to keep in mind: they should highlight the youth aspect of the issue; welcome discussions with older generations; recognize that change and trust building do not occur overnight; and the importance of laying the groundwork for change.

“The door you open today, more people will come and continue to open and widen [the door] and open the windows in the room for more people to benefit from it,” Prelis said. “Your legacy is making sure the door is open for the others to come after you.”

More than 150 people came to the United Presbyterian Church of Binghamton on Thursday to listen to four panelists: Hussein Adams, executive director and CEO of the American Civic Association; Zachary Ahmad, senior policy counsel at the New York Civil Liberties Union; Luna Azcurrain, jail visitation project coordinator at Justice and Unity in the Southern Tier; and Dara Silberstein, attorney, associate research professor and program director of Binghamton University’s department of women, gender and sexuality studies.

The discussion was moderated by Rev. Kimberly Chastain, pastor and head of staff at the church. Panelists and local community members discussed the growing debate in the community over Sheriff Fred Akshar’s participation in ICE’s Warrant Service Officer program and the quality of life for arrestees in the county jail.

“There have been examples of U.S. citizens being profiled or wrongly detained, unlawfully detained, by ICE for periods of time before being released,” Ahmad said, referring to nationwide reports. “We are really seeing an out of control immigration enforcement regime.”

The panel discussed the 287(g) agreement signed by Akshar’s office in March, which allows state and local law enforcement “to serve and execute administrative warrants on aliens in their agency’s jail,” according to the program’s website. Akshar, who signed the agreement on March 10, told Pipe Dream at the time that only the corrections division would serve these warrants to “lawfully detained adult individuals within the correctional facility.”

In a fact sheet, Akshar stated that the correctional facility’s budget would not change due to housing ICE detainees and that the federal government pays the county $110 per detainee per day. He also stated that officers would receive the necessary training to execute these warrants from ICE.

Azcurrain, a senior double-majoring in sociology and Latin American and Caribbean studies, works firsthand with the detainees and raised concerns she had with the program’s implementation.

“This is very financially beneficial to ICE specifically, because they reimburse us half of what it costs to hold somebody at [Broome County Jail], which is $110,” Azcurrain said. “So, they’re only paying $110 and the county is paying the other half. So, not only are we paying to help detain these folks, but we are also now paying to have more staff.”

More staffing is needed because of the increase in detainees since the agreement’s signing, according to Azcurrain. Many of the new detainees arrived elsewhere in northern and central New York. She also claimed that the correctional facility lacks adequate translation resources, making it difficult for detainees to attend court hearings, contact their families, or file grievances with the sheriff’s office.

Adams said the town hall was a “great first step” and encouraged attendees to continue speaking out against ICE activity locally and nationwide.

Ahmad then highlighted the “New York for All” act, a proposed state bill that would ban 287(g) agreements in New York and forbid state, local and law enforcement officials from collaborating with ICE. California and Washington state have enacted laws restricting certain officials from working with ICE and inquiring about residents’ citizenship status. Vermont, Illinois, Oregon and Colorado also placed limits on authorities enforcing federal immigration law.

He encouraged residents to contact their state representatives and urge them to pass the bill.

“New York state and the counties and the cities can all draw a firm line in the sand and say we’re not going to be complicit in what’s going on,” said Ahmad. “We’re not going to share information with ICE. We’re not going to hand people over who are in local custody into ICE custody.”

Both the state assembly and senate versions of the bill, first introduced in January 2021, currently sit in committee. While labor unions and state legislators have voiced support for the measure over the years, it has never made it to the floor.

Akshar’s office pushed back against some of the claims made by Thursday’s panelists.

“Despite these repeated falsehoods, our BCSO team has been crystal-clear with our community from the start,” Akshar said in a statement to Pipe Dream. “The BCSO’s specific participation in the 287(g) program has zero impact on immigration enforcement in Broome County or any other community. Their false claims are easily disproven with even the simplest look at immigration enforcement in communities nationwide.”

The panel came three days after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted an injunction placed by a federal district court that prevented immigration officers from stopping people in the Los Angeles area if those stops were based on any of the following factors: an individual’s presence at certain locations like bus stops, agricultural sites and car washes; “the type of work one does;” “speaking Spanish or English with an accent;” and “apparent race or ethnicity.”

The ACLU argued the court’s decision would allow ICE to investigate individuals on the basis of race or spoken accent. The Department of Homeland Security hailed the ruling as a “major victory” and claimed the federal government enforces immigration law “without fear, favor, or prejudice.”

“Our sheriff’s office is participating in the systemic racism that the Supreme Court has just allowed to continue,” said Silberstein. “It’s really important to understand that many of the kinds of structural inequities that have existed in policing in general are now being extended through ICE.”

In the face of an ongoing housing crisis, these data centers wreak havoc on the quality, affordability and sustainability of housing in the United States.

With a shortage of almost seven million affordable homes in the United States and over 70 percent of low-income households spending more than half of their income on housing, demands for governments to incentivize the construction of subsidized housing have never been higher.

Although local governments, especially in urban areas, have made efforts to increase the availability of affordable housing, a lack of sweeping change at the federal level remains. For instance, the Housing Crisis Response Act of 2023, the largest legislation proposed to address the issue that sought to invest over $150 billion into affordable housing, was never passed.

Moreover, without significant government intervention, the American housing crisis will continue to worsen as developers are unlikely to invest in affordable housing projects that are not considered profitable investments without federal incentives.

Despite the overwhelming need for affordable housing in America, federal and state governments have instead decided to incentivize the construction of data centers, offering them large tax breaks and direct investments. Data centers not only consume vast amounts of land that could theoretically be used for housing, but they also demand five million gallons of water per day, equivalent to the amount consumed by a town of up to 50,000 people, making them ecological nightmares.

Since these data centers require so much water and energy, homes close to data centers bear the consequences instead of those building them. They have limited access to potable water, experience more frequent power outages and are subject to increased noise and light pollution.

Georgia couple Beverly and Jeff Morris live 400 yards away from Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta data center and have spoken about the havoc this data center has wreaked on their home. Their kitchen sink doesn’t produce water beyond a few drops tainted with sediment, their toilets do not have enough water to flush and the couple says they can no longer sleep at night because of how bright their home is. The Morris’ have had to spend tens of thousands of dollars to add a well for drinking water access and to replace ruined toilets, faucets and other fixtures.

In a video interview, Beverly stated, “It is overwhelming because you really feel like you are up against this huge wall that you can’t penetrate. There’s nothing that you can do, and they don’t care.”

In Georgia specifically, data centers with an investment value of $15 million are eligible for tax abatement. So, while Zuckerberg receives a tax break, residents across the entire state of Georgia, not just those in proximity to the data center, experience bill increases and devastation to their quality life. For the Morris’, their electricity bill went up by $150 a month after the data center began operation.

It is telling that these massive data centers are specifically being built across regions in rural America that already face economic strife, especially when it comes to housing. Construction costs tend to be higher in rural areas, making it even less appealing for developers to build subsidized housing, which is already considered a bad investment.

Despite their heavy environmental toll, some struggling regions have embraced AI data centers as lifelines of economic investment. Morrow County, Oregon, for example, handed Jeff Bezos a staggering $1 billion in tax breaks over 15 years to secure his data centers.

While it is true that data centers create jobs and bring investment to rural communities, their effect on housing cannot be ignored. Even though urban areas face the greatest challenges when it comes to a lack of affordable housing, these issues are now trickling into rural areas at the same time as these data centers are popping up.

It might be pure coincidence that data centers and a rural housing crisis developed at the same time, but there is no denying that data centers only stand to make housing development and affordability more difficult in rural areas.

It is truly devastating that at a moment when America urgently needs affordable housing, resources are instead being funneled into data centers that divert investment and potentially erase the very possibility of building these homes.

Antonia Kladias, a senior majoring in biochemistry, is Pipe Dream’s opinions editor. 

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

This is how I see the United States: a large, substandard city. In an era where everyone can benefit from high-density housing complete with good public transport, the United States continues to fall short.

The United States is missing two things that go hand in hand — affordable housing and public transportation. This is the consequence of a decades-old city planning culture that defines the stereotype of the American city.

There is an entrenched and unchanging cultural norm that people must, by all means, own a car and a large house and drive from that house to their jobs and every other place in that car. This issue is worsened by the fact that cars are also becoming larger, wasting more space and resources.

This is less of an issue in urban areas due to the increased accessibility of public transportation. However, these places are few and far between in the United States.

The sprawling suburban housing is unsustainable, inefficient and cruelly unethical. When car ownership becomes a societal expectation, being unable to afford one becomes a barrier in life. Without being able to walk, cycle or take the bus to a place from home, people without cars are less likely to find jobs, less likely to find opportunities for advancing themselves. They are essentially left out of recreation and socializing opportunities.

Root causes of psychological issues, such as the decline of third spaces and increased social media addiction, are directly linked to the way in which city planning isolates people to their houses and commutes.

Perhaps the saddest aspect of this entire issue — that being a car-dependent society has created phantom barriers against growth and development — is that the United States wasn’t always like this. The old metropolises, like Chicago, New York City, Boston and Philadelphia, were the last vestiges of the time before cars, when people had an incentive to use public transportation because of its availability, accessibility and scope.

To me, the solution for city planning is clear: cities must be organized not around a small center and sprawling suburbs, but blocks that can concentrate people efficiently while leaving more space for recreation.

There is clear proof that cities that blend businesses and housing generate more wealth and more vibrant communities. Both Europe and Asia provide plenty of examples that the United States can adopt, like London, Paris, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City.

The cheap excuse that the United States is so large that it can only afford to have large suburbs is only that — an excuse, not a logical belief. Planning and organizing cities is not about how much space there is to occupy, but about how effectively and wisely it is used for the benefit of its residents.

On this subject, I have a suggestion that is borderline heretical for the United States, but at the same time, a perspective that is necessary to consider. Countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have all, in one way or another, adopted the idea of the “microdistrict,” a form of city planning that makes walkability a priority.

In a typical microdistrict with a radius of 30 to 200 acres, a person can live in their apartment and have access to a school, hospital, kindergarten, parks, cafes and other such services. Multiple microdistricts are then connected with avenues supporting bus and light rail networks, and clusters of such districts form cities that are, in principle, easy to travel through and live in.

Space-efficient neighborhoods like these are necessary for the rapid development of affordable housing. Microdistricts can solve the United States’ fundamental problem of single-family homes disconnected from opportunities for employment and recreation.

With the right changes to the principle, the idea of high-density housing and accessible amenities can just be what America needs — cities that are for humans, not vehicles.

Adopting a microdistrict style of housing means increased access to employment and recreation and less dependence on car ownership. Developing high-density housing and public transport decreases the costs of home ownership and daily commutes, making life more affordable for those who don’t have the means for detached housing. Designing space-efficient communities is a tested city planning method that can mitigate the primary issue of home ownership becoming less and less accessible to people in this country.

Because of this, a fundamental cultural shift in city planning and an emphasis on lessening car dependence are vital for social and economic development in the United States. Housing developments must emphasize the idea of grouping people and creating space for jobs, amenities, green areas, education and welfare.

Deniz Gulay is a junior double-majoring in history and Russian. 

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

Continuing an annual tradition, here are just some of the worst housing experiences students have faced. Responses have been lightly edited for clarity.

“Secondhand smoke”

Freshman year, my randomly assigned roommates were obsessed with smoking weed in the dorm. When I got COVID-19, I asked if they could stop for a couple of days — and they said no.

“Sticky situation”

My roommate knocked on my door one morning, asking if he could use my bathroom. He then clogged the toilet and was unable to plunge it. My anxiety spiked when he placed the dirty plunger, sopping wet, directly onto my tile wood floor.

“Everything but the bathroom sink”

While I still lived at College-in-the-Woods, I went into the bathroom one night and the entire sink was clogged with someone’s Friday night vomit. The vomit stayed there for two days until cleaning day on Monday.

“Third wheeling”

Two of my roommates started dating when we lived together and would fight right outside my door in the living room at least once a week. Like, half the time they would hook up in one of their rooms after (also right next to my door). It was like I was a ghost haunting one of the couples from “90 Day Fiancé.”

“Living at Stonebridge”

When we moved in, there was lingerie on the floor and a mousetrap on the ceiling. They said we had to clean it ourselves. Eventually, we had to withhold rent to fix our moldy ceiling leak and then they threatened to evict us (even though they agreed to the rent withholding).

They kept the security deposit even though they returned it months past. I looked them up and there’s an active case against them because they didn’t pay contractors over $20,000, so I don’t think I’ll get my deposit back.

“House of Horrors” 

Arriving in the United States as an international student is already overwhelming — new country, new culture and endless uncertainties. For me, what should have been an exciting start quickly turned into a housing nightmare that lasted my entire first year.

Before I arrived, my friends and I signed a lease for a specific property. However, when we landed, the landlord shocked us by saying the house wasn’t ready. He placed us in a temporary apartment instead, insisting we pay rent for it and promising the original property would be ready within a month.

That first month passed, and when we asked about moving into the place we had actually signed for, he delayed it by yet another month. The temporary unit we were stuck in was in terrible shape — broken windows that let in freezing air, nails sticking out of the stairs, and a visible layer of dust coating everything. It was so dirty and unsafe that we had to scrub and clean the entire apartment ourselves just to make it livable.

By October, after repeated promises, the landlord finally admitted the original property wouldn’t be ready anytime soon. But since it was already mid-semester, most decent housing options were gone, leaving us with no choice but to stay.

When we signed a full 10-month lease for the temporary place, we even provided the landlord with a detailed list of problems to fix — cracked windows, missing furniture, holes in the walls. Most of these issues were ignored.

Battling the Cold and a Broken Home 

As winter approached, our situation worsened. The house was unbearably cold, and we had to wear puffer jackets inside. Our lease included utilities, yet when we repeatedly complained about the freezing temperatures, the landlord dismissed us, saying, “It’s just your first winter — you’re not used to the cold.”

When his electricity bill suddenly spiked, he finally sent someone to check the heaters. The technician confirmed the heaters worked fine — the real problem was the cracked windows that couldn’t keep the heat in. Even with this proof, the landlord delayed fixing them and only replaced the windows after January, once the harshest part of winter had already passed.

Rats, Cardboard Repairs and Excuses 

Because of a large hole in the apartment, rats began entering and destroying our groceries — not once, but twice. Instead of calling a professional to fix it properly, the landlord sent his nephew, who tried to “patch” the hole using cardboard and paper.

When we questioned this absurd solution, the landlord casually claimed, “The rats probably just like the smell of Indian spices.”

The Roommate From Hell 

As if dealing with the property wasn’t enough, we also had to live with a nightmare roommate. She was 26 years old, but her behavior was unbelievably reckless.

She once clogged the bathroom toilet by flushing cardboard tubes, then refused to clean up. She left the electric stove on for 12 hours straight, creating a serious fire hazard. At one point, she insisted that eggs needed to be refrigerated or they would hatch into chicks. She also refused to take out the trash for eight whole months and didn’t even know what day trash pickup was.

The most shocking incident was with her pressure cooker. She argued that because her pressure cooker was “new technology,” it didn’t require water. We had to carefully explain that pressure cookers only work by creating steam from water — otherwise, they could be extremely dangerous.

On top of all this, she repeatedly lied to our landlord about us, blaming us for things we didn’t do. Eventually, we caught her red-handed and had to show the landlord video recordings, pictures and chat screenshots to prove our innocence. Even the landlord eventually had to move her out because she became a serious safety risk to the household.

The Final Straw: A Snake in the House 

In the last ten days of our lease, things hit rock bottom. A snake appeared inside the house because the landlord had never maintained the grass or yard. When we reported it, his response was disturbingly casual:

“Don’t worry, the snake won’t do anything — it’ll just kiss you and go.”

A Legal Battle for My Deposit

When our lease finally ended, the landlord refused to return my security deposit. I had to send a formal legal notice before he finally paid it back, over a month later.

Looking Back 

This entire experience taught me how vulnerable international students can be when navigating housing in a new country. Between false promises, unsafe living conditions, a toxic roommate and a dismissive landlord, my first year was filled with constant stress.

I am deeply relieved to be free of that property and that landlord now. By sharing my story, I hope to warn other students to ask tough questions, document everything, and never settle for unsafe or unfair treatment.