The events that have transpired around Binghamton University during the past few weeks are hard to ignore: nationally televised sporting events, a conference basketball championship, columns in The New York Times. Who would have thought that 2009 would bring such fame to our humble institute of higher learning? Not all of the attention has been positive, but as the saying goes, there is no such thing as bad publicity. If anything, the attacks that have been fired upon our University have strengthened the spirit of our school and certainly not demoralized it in any way.
After the Bearcats’ star basketball player D.J. Rivera was left out of the America East All-Conference team in a vote of coaches from within our conference, fans responded by chanting Rivera “MVP” when the AE Championship was held at the Events Center on March 14. When Pete Thamel of The New York Times questioned the direction of Binghamton basketball and the ethics of its recruiting practices, the BU community — alumni, students, fans and faculty — all responded by coming out in full support of the team, defending our Bearcats in the media as well as in person at basketball games.
Undoubtedly one cannot look at this recent spike in school spirit as unrelated to the success of Bearcats basketball. Winning a conference championship and garnering national media attention will do that — but with all the pride our community has for Bearcats basketball in mind, it is worth remembering that Binghamton is not just a great school because of its basketball team. In fact, there is no reason why school spirit should ever suffer here at Binghamton.
It is tough to look around campus at the new buildings that have gone up and old ones being renovated without imagining how attractive our campus will look just a few years down the road from now — or even how pretty it is right now. How can one not be proud of our beautiful Events Center and the 5,000-plus fans that filled it up during the AE Championship game?
There is much to be proud of here at Binghamton athletically besides our championship basketball team: A soccer team which regularly sits atop the America East, along with tennis and baseball teams which have also brought home conference championships, are a few examples. Although many critics would point out that Binghamton lacks a football program, it is worth noting that the men’s rugby program knocked off nationally ranked Syracuse 13-5 last semester in the season’s final week, proving that we certainly are not a bunch of sissies here at BU.
Binghamton’s greatness is still so much more than sports and architecture, though; it is the people here at BU that make our community so special. We are the school of Ingrid Michaelson and Tony Kornheiser, the home of the 19th-ranked chemistry and political science departments, according to various surveys. We are a prideful bunch, ranked the eighth most selective public university just last year by U.S. News and World Report.
We have much to be proud of here at Binghamton. Famous alumni, great academics and rising athletics are a few of these things; the glories of State Street, Broadusville, the Nature Preserve and a planned Binghamton Law School are others. With all this going on, it is a wonder school spirit at Binghamton has yet to skyrocket through the roof! Perhaps we’ve all been waiting for something to get behind; perhaps the success of our basketball team is exactly that. If so, then this is an exciting time to be at Binghamton University — it looks like we’re making it big time, slowly but surely.