Well kids, it’s that time of year again. The campus is decked out in some manufactured school spirit, the Student Association is planning all sorts of lovely events to make Binghamton University look fun and residence halls are dusting off their floats for the Brain Train parade. Yup, it’s Alumni weekend (also known as Homecoming, though the phrase is more applicable at schools that actually have a football team).

In keeping with the festive spirit of the event, we here at Pipe Dream thought we’d take a break from annoying current BU students and write a little something to all of our alumni (though, of course, you current students should keep reading too, and just store this editorial away in your memory for when you, too, are alumni).

Though you may think it’s just an excuse to have a mildly entertaining barbeque in the Peace Quad, we’ll let you in on the real secret motivations behind Alumni Weekend — getting donations for the University.

And for the record, we’re not criticizing. This illustrious public institution of academics is in serious need of funding, and there’s no better place to look than to our own successful alumni. If you enjoyed your time here, and maybe even attribute some of your current success and happiness to your years at BU, then it’s only right you give a little something back to the place you called home for four years (and the place from which you probably still own a T-shirt).

But don’t just hand your money over to the administration and assume it will go toward the places we (as in we, the current students and faculty) need it the most.

Every year, it seems the funding in our liberal arts departments (you know — English, music, theater, history, etc.) shrinks more and more. Many of these departments can’t afford enough full time professors to satisfy the student demand for courses, and some can’t even afford blue books (yes, that’s right, we’re invoking the lack of blue books, the universal BU symbol for lack of funds).

We’re not saying the sciences, technology and business deserve short shrift … but we are saying they have many more options for procuring funding — big business, government, national foundation — than do the liberal arts.

This is where you come in, alumni. If you have the ability to make a donation (and of course you do, you went to BU after all, you must be a financial success!), utilize the option of specifying a specific destination for that donation, and give it to a department that needs it.

This University was once known just for its liberal arts education — and by the enrollment numbers of Harpur college and departments like philosophy, English and political science, we can comfortably say that liberal arts are still pulling in a large percentage of students.

So alumni, remember where you came from — a BU (or, more likely, a SUNY-Binghamton or a Harpur College) that devoted a lot to the study of liberal arts. So give a little bit for the benefit of the students who’ve come after you, and give a little bit to liberal arts.