Apparently, the intellectual powers that be have decided it’s time to change the official list of the seven wonders of the world (see Page 4). And when we say “the intellectual powers that be,” we mean some obviously egomaniacal French filmmaker who has taken it upon himself to update the list.

So we got to thinking — while we’re all at it making a new list for the world, why not take a look at Binghamton University’s own wonders? After all, with the oodles of interesting and important stuff around here, isn’t it about time someone made an official list of the things we should all appreciate for their uniqueness and all around coolness?

So without further adieu, your good friends at Pipe Dream present “The seven not-so-natural wonders of BU.”

1. The core of Lecture Hall

Next time you’re in Lecture Hall, think about the shape of the building. For all of you Bearcats who’ve passed your geometry classes, you’ll realize that there is an unaccounted for portion of space at the core of the building. This secret core is a small room that contains all the projectors for Lecture Hall’s classrooms. Apparently the core is guarded by a locked door and is pitch-black … so even if you manage to infiltrate this wonder, you will not be able to see what is inside. Such mystery!

2. The Engineering Building

OK, you probably don’t think this one is so cool, but the absolute ridiculousness of its shape and the sheer inconvenience of every aspect of the building make it a BU wonder. And the real kicker? This architectural anomaly was designed by a graduate of BU’s engineering school. That’s right, have a chuckle.

3. The campus greenhouses

Not many students seem to know about the greenhouses that are attached to Science III, and if they do know of their existence, they don’t realize that you can go frolic amid the tropical plants any time you want. This is cool — we swear. But check ahead for the hours.

4. The nature preserve

Yeah, we all take the nature preserve for granted, or maybe just for a cool place to smoke up on those beautiful Vestal nights; but in this concrete world in which we live, such a large area of natural beauty is its own kind of wonder. They may have paved part of paradise to put up the Mountainview parking lot, but there’s still a lot of it left to go play in.

5. The sun dial

Remember that sun dial placed randomly in that little concrete crossway by Lecture Hall? Think about it … you’ve seen it. It was the gift of some graduating class. Yeah, so it serves absolutely no purpose, but isn’t that a requirement for the wonders of the world? It’s archaic and silly … so here it is on the list.

6. The Chenango Room

The Chenango Room is a restaurant-style campus eatery attached to Science I. While dining at this location, you are given a real cloth napkin and you are served your food by a waiter (it’s like a real restaurant!). It’s reasonably priced, the food is good and best of all, you can use your meal plan there. Oh yeah, and they serve booze!

7. The cryptic message outside the New Union

On the new stone walkway outside of the first floor of the New Union (the area part that faces Couper, not the library), some anonymous soothsayer has scrawled the phrase “God is dead” on the stones. We can’t figure out what the message was written in, since it’s visible when the stone is both dry and wet, but it seems to be fairly permanent. It’s kind of creepy … so go check out this wonder for itself. And if you’re the one who wrote it, let us know.