In a swift and tactful decision, the Binghamton University Student Association Programming Board, along with the Events Center staff and Broome County officials, were able to have the Pretty Lights concert, set for Thursday, moved from the Events Center to the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. We applaud their efforts.
In the worst case scenario, the first major concert of the year could have been canceled, but those involved worked diligently to make sure this didn’t happen.
It is incredibly impressive that this concert will go off, hopefully, without a hitch.
And yet, there are some BU students who are irritated at the fact that for students and campus alike, it’s been nearly two weeks and the Events Center still remains a facility only for the evacuated. Some may feel they’re being inconvenienced. Well, we believe they can sit down and be quiet.
Pipe Dream fully stands behind the University’s efforts to aid those who were displaced by the flood. We support all measures that BU is taking to ameliorate the crisis for each and every evacuee.
The fact is the 115 people left in the Events Center are destitute. Most of these evacuees left on campus are either too young, too old or too sick to get back on their feet on their own. They are still here, tautologically, because they have no other place to go.
Many were recipients of government-assisted housing even before the flood struck. It goes without saying that these people have no homes, no options and need to reside in the Events Center until they can get help from other government authorities.
Comparing the situation of the flood victims to any is like comparing water to vinegar. Even if the upcoming concert had been altogether canceled, obviously, our inconvenience as students would have been incomparable to the destroyed livelihoods of the evacuees. The care for these people is top priority, and not having a place to practice, watch basketball games or attend concerts is a distant second.
Besides, the “inconvenient” move of the Pretty Lights concert might not even be an inconvenience at all. Its Downtown setting provides students with an opportunity to make a massive night out of the concert. Go out to dinner, have a few drinks beforehand and turn what would have been a great Thursday night into an extraordinary one.
Let’s step back for a moment. BU talks a big game about how much it brings to the region. Sure, the University is one of the biggest employers in the Binghamton area and yeah, it brings millions of dollars and thousands of jobs to the local economy.
But the idea that our school is helping to give shelter to the homeless, provide food to the hungry and give aid to the sick, well, that makes us proud to be a part of this University.