Binghamton University President Anne D’Alleva attended Tuesday’s Student Association Congress meeting to discuss her first five months in office.

In her speech, D’Alleva included details about her “Listening to Lead” tour, a new strategic plan for the University and the University’s rebranding process. Last August, the SUNY Board of Trustees named D’Alleva the next president, [HYPERLINK: https://www.bupipedream.com/news/anne-dalleva-selected-president/168300/] months after former University President Harvey Stenger announced his retirement. D’Alleva formerly served as the University of Connecticut’s first female provost.

“The thing that makes Binghamton strongest is actually its students,” D’Alleva said. “You all are amazing. You are so smart, so dedicated, so committed to making a difference in the world.”

D’Alleva started her presentation with a recap of her listening tour [HYPERLINK: https://www.bupipedream.com/news/dalleva-engages-university-community-on-her-listening-tour/173816/], which consisted of 38 stops and meeting over 1,000 participants in 44 days. The stops included visits with multicultural organizations and staff from the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. D’Alleva said that after these stops, she blogged about her meetings to encourage participation and transparency.

She then spoke about her strategic planning process, which she began to work on after completing the listening tour. Hundreds of people, D’Alleva said, were involved in this process through Zoom meetings, town halls and surveys. She then built the strategic plan on “the four pillars of our work as a great public university:” education, research and scholarship, economic development and community engagement.

D’Alleva detailed the five goals of her strategic plan: extending research opportunities to every student, transforming graduate education, expanding commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, improving our social economic impact and “building bridges” to advance the common good. This plan is currently underway with funding set aside to put it in action.

D’Alleva then discussed her rebranding plan for the University.

“I think our branding could be sharper,” she said. “I think our branding could be more dynamic. I think it could be more aggressive. We need a natural and global marketing campaign to tell the world who we are and what we do.”

She explained that her targets for this new branding will be prospective students and their families, peer universities and the University’s alumni and donors. She hopes these efforts will boost the University’s ranking in the U.S. News & World Report.

The U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Colleges” list ranked BU at No. 4 for best-value public universities in the United States and No. 1 for best-value public universities in New York in 2025. [HYPERLINK: https://www.bupipedream.com/news/bu-rises-in-2025-college-rankings/156965/] In 2026, the U.S. News & World Report tied BU for No. 73 in national universities.

D’Alleva then opened the floor to questions, which included concerns regarding restricted library hours and a lack of on-campus parking. D’Alleva said she hopes to address both concerns to “remove friction” from students’ lives.

Several questions were then raised about the University’s contract with Flock Safety, a security company that provides cameras and license plate readers. Students shared concerns about their information being leaked to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

D’Alleva instructed students to refer to the University’s FAQ sheet regarding the contract and requested that questions pertain only to the topics of her presentation.

“I was disheartened to see President D’Alleva dodge our questions by admitting that she doesn’t read her emails, by pointing to a FAQ filled with inaccuracies, and by claiming there is a New York state law that prohibits data-sharing with ICE,” Rob Olbon, a Susquehanna representative and a senior majoring in linguistics, wrote in an email. “No such law exists; the New York for All Act would do this, but it has not yet passed due to opposition from Governor Hochul. The law she alluded to, the ‘Green Light Law,’ only restricts the actions of the DMV, and only in regard to licenses and permits. It is a blatant misrepresentation of the law to claim it is relevant here.”

“Further, Flock Safety’s collaboration with ICE is public and well-documented knowledge, and no matter how the university tries to reassure us through inaccuracies, our data is exposed to ICE through this contract,” he continued.

According to the University Police’s webpage, automated license plate reader information cannot be shared with ICE under New York’s Driver’s License Access and Privacy Act of 2019.

Municipalities across the country, including Tompkins County, have cancelled partnerships with Flock Safety, citing concerns that federal agencies, including U.S. Border Patrol, have been searching its data for undocumented immigrants.

“When we talk about the student experience, getting Flock off of our campus is a critical part of making people feel safe on campus,” wrote Hatim Husainy, a Hillside representative and a sophomore majoring in political science, in a statement. “To have a good student experience at Binghamton, before athletics and academics, before housing or food, the thing that matters most is safety.”