Fall 2016 Issue 15

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Meet the 19-year-old senior who’s involved in the SA, BSU

and holding down an internship, See page 4 Celebrating 70 Years as the Free Word on Campus

Tuesday, October 18, 2016 | Vol. XC, Issue 15 | Binghamton University | bupipedream.com

Living Building set to open doors in 2019 Structure at Nuthatch Hollow Nature Preserve to function with net positive energy output Alexandra Hupka Contributing Writer

Kevin Sussy/Photography Editor Faculty, staff and students attend the October Stonewall Mixer, hosted by the LGBTQ Center at Binghamton University in the basement of Glenn G. Bartle Library.

Mixers connect LGBTQ community

Monthly events provide space for faculty, graduate students to network Chloe Rehfield Pipe Dream News

Since opening its doors for the first time this semester, The LGBTQ Center at Binghamton University has been developing its presence on campus by taking steps to bolster BU’s LGBTQ community. Its newest series of events is the Stonewall Mixer, a monthly networking opportunity for faculty, staff and graduate students at BU. Stocked with food and coffee, the mixers foster an environment that enables LGBTQ

members of BU’s graduate programs to network with faculty and support peers or co-workers who also belong to the LGBTQ community. The first mixer, which took place on Sept. 8 in the basement of Glenn G. Bartle Library, boasted 42 attendees. The mixers go on for 2 1/2 hours, so those who are busy teaching or studying can find time to attend, if even for only 20 minutes. Kelly Clark, the director of the LGBTQ Center, said that the predominant goal of the mixers is to allow relationships, both social and professional, to prosper

outside of a classroom setting. Clark said that while roughly 80 percent of the Center’s efforts and funds are dedicated to supporting undergraduates, the Stonewall Mixer and other work is allocated to graduate students and administration at large. “Imagine, as a graduate student, your laser-beam focus is that you’re in your lab every day, in the library,” Clark said. “You barely know multiple people in your own department, let alone across the institution. At the mixers, we had

SEE STONEWALL PAGE 2

An open house was held at the Nuthatch Hollow Nature Preserve on Oct. 15 to begin the planning process for the Living Building Project, a reconstruction of the current structure on the site into a completely green building. The Nuthatch Hollow site is located roughly a mile from campus, along Bunn Hill Road. It consists of 80 acres of woodland that support a large variety of birds, salamanders and other animals. The site has long been used for field research and naturalist observation. Originally, prominent local businessman and community member Robert Schumann owned the site. Eventually Schumann formed an informal Nuthatch Hollow Committee with Binghamton University environmental studies faculty and opened it to students and faculty for field research. When Schumann passed away in 2011, he left Nuthatch Hollow to the environmental studies department at BU on the condition that the site would be used as an outdoor research and environmental lab, according to Richard Andrus, a professor of environmental studies. Research and fieldwork labs from the environmental studies department and classes relating to the surrounding environment plan

to occupy the space. “I think that [Schumann] wanted the oversight of the property left to people on the committee that he knew and trusted,” Andrus said. “The idea was to build a fieldwork teaching lab, but then we found out about the Living Building Challenge. The discussion now is how we foster a living building while keeping the original intent of the building.” The Living Building Challenge, created by the nonprofit International Living Future Institute, is a sustainable building certification program that imposes strict standards to create structures that provide positive benefits to the environment. Currently, there are only 11 certified living buildings worldwide. One requirement for creating a living building is that it must have net positive energy generation, meaning the building outputs more renewable energy than it uses. Other standards include cleaning any water that the building uses and returning it to the environment, and that it is constructed out of only eco-friendly materials. Ziang Zhang, an assistant professor in the electrical and computer engineering department, said that creating a green power system to do this is complicated. “Once you put renewable energy in a system, the problem is that it is unreliable,” Zhang said. “We can’t

SEE LIVING PAGE 2

Philosopher discusses harm post mortem David Boonin examines theory of disturbing the deceased's wishes Peter Brockwell Staff Writer

David Boonin, a philosophy professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, spoke at Binghamton University about the way in which humans can potentially harm each other after death. Boonin’s work as a philosopher focuses on applied ethics. He has published several books on morality, abortion, race and identity, and working on a book studying posthumous harm. His speech at BU was a part of the philosophy department’s social, political, ethical and legal philosophy colloquium speaker series, and was attended by faculty and students. The talk on Friday afternoon focused on the posthumous harm thesis, a famous thesis on the philosophy of death, which proposes that it is possible for an act

to harm a person, even if the act takes place after the person has died. Boonin believes that the thesis is correct if the desire satisfaction principle is taken into account. This principle states that one way to make someone’s life worse is to actively frustrate their desires. To explain this idea, Boonin used several example scenarios to build his argument. First, he used the example of a cheating spouse to put forth the idea that a person can be harmed even if they are unaware the harm is happening. Boonin proposed that if a person’s life is not as they think it is, their quality of life is being affected. This fulfills the desire satisfaction principle by taking away the monogamous relationship they hope to have. Boonin next explained an example in which someone’s wishes after they died were not fulfilled. One character in his

example had asked another to scatter her ashes at the top of her favorite mountain after she died. Instead, the ashes were poured down the drain. For Boonin, this is an example of posthumous harm, as a person’s desires were frustrated after they had passed away. While Boonin admitted that the subject of posthumous harm could be seen as strange or unorthodox, he said it was an important field of study since much of philosophic thought focuses on the act or moment of death, rather than what can happen to an individual after it. “It’s worth emphasizing, it’s not really bizarre or idiosyncratic to picture a case of someone who has desires about how things go after they die,” Boonin said. “Not everybody has these desires apparently, but lots of people have desires about what

Katherine Scott/Pipe Dream Photographer Members and friends of Delta Tau sorority, the first sorority at Binghamton University, rekindle memories in New University Union.

First sorority on campus to BU for reunion Brain's reward system explored returns Delta Tau, founded in 1980, hosts meet and greet SEE HARM PAGE 2

Daniel Wesson examines connections between smell and motivation Allison Detzel Contributing Writer

On Friday afternoon, Daniel Wesson, an assistant professor of neurosciences at Case Western Reserve University, presented his findings on the connections between sense of smell and the brain’s reward system. Wesson, who earned his Ph.D. in biology from Boston University, delivered his lecture, “Identifying New Brain Mechanisms for Sensory Processing and Motivating Behaviors.” Wesson’s presentation focused on the olfactory tubercle, which is a small part of the brain that plays a role in multisensory integration, or the way that sensory information gets integrated into the nervous system. He emphasized the role that the olfactory tubercle plays in the way that

the brain rewards behaviors with regard to smell, meaning the way in which we derive pleasure from smell. “Something that happens a lot in science is we start asking the questions that we are trained to think about … so as an olfactory person, what I was curious about was smell,” Wesson said. The olfactory tubercle was first outlined by Albert von Kölliker, a Swiss physiologist and histologist, in 1896. Kölliker chose the name because of its proximity to the olfactory bulb, a part of the brain heavily involved in processing smells. In the 1960s, it was discovered that the olfactory tubercle receives information about scents directly from the olfactory bulb. Wesson’s research focuses on updating what he considers the incomplete model

SEE BRAIN PAGE 2

ARTS & CULTURE

The University hosted its fifth annual International Poetry Festival on Saturday afternoon,

See page 4

with brothers and sisters currently in Greek Life Amy Donovan Staff Writer

Katherine Scott/Pipe Dream Photographer Daniel Wesson, a visiting assistant professor of neurosciences from Case Western Reserve University, speaks in Academic Building A.

Delta Tau, the first sorority at Binghamton University, held its first reunion this weekend for alumnae to reconnect and reminisce about formals, pledging moments and bonds made over 30 years ago. Sisters from current sororities on campus such as Phi Sigma Sigma, Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi and Phi Mu were able to attend a meet and greet with the sisters of Delta Tau to share stories and discuss the evolution of Greek Life at BU. There was also food and memorabilia such as photographs of Delta Tau embroidered hats and pillows. In the spring of 1980, Tau Alpha Upsilon brothers helped start Delta Tau

OPINIONS

The theatre department’s newest show, “The Motherf**ker with the Hat,” opened this weekend,

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The Editorial Board urges readers to go beyond awareness during Domestic Violence Awareness Month,

See page 10

after talking to some of their female friends who were interested in getting involved in Greek Life. In 1995, 15 years after its founding, Delta Tau closed its only chapter at BU due to the presence of new Panhellenic sororities and a lack of pledges. Currently, there are 16 sororities on campus. This includes the Panhellenic Council, Latino Greek Council, Asian Greek Council and the Multicultural Greek Council. Most sorority chapters were created in the 1980s and 1990s. Perri Zomback, a sister of Phi Sigma Sigma and a junior majoring in economics, said that she wanted to meet the sisters of Delta Tau to see how sorority life got its start over 30 years ago. “I think it’s really important to know

SEE DT PAGE 2

SPORTS

Women’s soccer defeats UMass Lowell for second straight win,

Volleyball defeats New Hampshire in four sets,

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