BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY - STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

On TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2026, our President Anne D'Alleva was in Washington, DC for an APLU president's meeting and because Anne had not really had any time with Senator Schumer since taking office, we asked her staff to arrange a meeting with the Senator while she was in DC. Anne met for about 15 minutes with the Senator in his Capitol Hill office and discussed generally the state of Binghamton University, Anne's experience as president to date and then the only real topic our president asked for help with was the Senator's assistance in making sure Binghamton's airport has reliable, consistent air service. President D'Alleva expressed the success of Binghamton University and the success of our Battery-NY project especially was dependent on healthy, vibrant airport service.

On May 21, our Support Services Director provided members of our federal delegation with an update on the potential negative impacts if the current proposals for TRIO programs were allowed to be implemented. Binghamton along with other higher education institutions have significant concerns about the Fiscal Year 2026 grant applications for the TRIO Talent Search and Educational Opportunity Centers (EOC) programs. The grant structure outlined in these applications reflects a dramatic shift in mission and redirects funds from the core purpose of both programs. We asked members of our delegation to please work with the Administration to rescind the applications and work with Congress to revise and reissue them, ensuring there is no lapse in funding for any Talent Search or EOC projects scheduled to expire on August 31, 2026. Meetings with staff members in Senator Schumer's (Jessica Bae), Senator Gillibrand's (Grace Hart/Anita Sagar) and Representative Riley's (Thomas Johnson/Lauren Berry) offices were held on May 21 in DC. Each member of the delegation was also asked to "sign-on" to a letter being circulated by the New York delegation. On TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2026, our President Anne D'Alleva was in Washington, DC for an APLU president's meeting and because Anne had not really had any time with Senator Schumer since taking office, we asked her staff to arrange a meeting with the Senator while she was in DC. Anne met for about 15 minutes with the Senator in his Capitol Hill office and discussed generally the state of Binghamton University, Anne's experience as president to date and then the only real topic our president asked for help with was the Senator's assistance in making sure Binghamton's airport has reliable, consistent air service. President D'Alleva expressed the success of Binghamton University and the success of our Battery-NY project especially was dependent on healthy, vibrant airport service. On June 25, I shared a letter via email with our federal delegation (Schumer, Gillibrand, Riley) from our America East Commissioner Brad Walker regarding the Protect College Sports Act. The letter outlined some points the AE conference would like considered as lawmakers review and potentially act on this Act.