INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 138, No. 45
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2022
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8 Pages – Free
ITHACA, NEW YORK
News
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Tenants Union
K-Pop
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Partly Sunny
Over 30 supporters of the Ithaca Tenants Union gathered to protest local households up for eviction. | Page 3
Behind K-Pop’s addicting beats lies a much darker side that is rarely discussed: eating disorders. | Page 4
Cornell faced rival Harvard at Lynah Rink for a highly anticipated match. | Page 8
HIGH: 36º LOW: 11º
Greek Recruitment Concludes Students voice mixed opinions on virtual recruitment process By JIWOOK JUNG and KEVIN CHENG
a freshman student who hoped to join a sorority this semester, ultimately decided not to continue when faced with the prospect of recruiting over Zoom. With fears of the Omicron variant still looming large, “I changed my mind like a week before,” said Salatti. the University’s shift to online instruction coincides with an “I felt like it’s harder to make a connection and figure out enduring tradition of the early weeks of spring: recruitment which one you want to join. How am I going to be able to season for sorority and fraternity hopefuls. fairly judge if they’re the people I want to hang out with for According to the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life, the rest of college if I’m only seeing them virtually?” almost a third of Cornell’s student body belongs to a Greek Similarly, the current members of sororities and fraterorganization on campus. During the pre-pandemic era, nities voiced their frustrations with another year of virtual students hoping to join a sorority or fraternity journeyed formal recruitments. Takashi Yuasa ’22, Social Chair at Pi from house to house in the frigid Ithaca winter to attend Delta Psi fraternity noted that it is much more challenging recruitment events. to understand a full picture of PNMs online. But with the pandemic once again forcing all in-person “It’s definitely difficult to try to socialize for everyone, events to halt, potential new members (PNMs) hoping to because it’s obviously just looking at screens. As a Social join now face a semester of virtual recruitment. With the Chair, I found it difficult to get the body language and University’s recent mandate to move all perception of PNMs,” said Yuasa. “It’s in-person activities and events online, very difficult to navigate and make a “I found it difficult to get sorority and fraternity recruitment events very interactive and fun event virtually.” have been forced to follow suit. Despite these concerns, many students the body language and When the University announced noted benefits in recruiting from home. perception of PNMs.” the restriction on in-person events, Mikayla Kibel ’22 recruited for and Kara Miller McCarty, Robert G. Engel joined Alpha Chi Omega in the spring Takashi Yuasa ’22 Director of Sorority & Fraternity Life, of 2020, before the initial COVID coordinated with Cornell sororities and shutdown. Now participating as a fraternities to help them switch to virturecruiter, Kibel told the Sun that virtual al recruitment. McCarthy told the Sun that although sud- recruitment adds ease and convenience to the otherwise den, there is an established sense of familiarity and flexibility strenuous process. to this process, thanks to last year’s virtual recruitment. “I think it might be a little easier for them to go through “It is certainly unique to experience a recruitment process recruitment, because this year they don’t have to walk in the online, however since the pandemic has been ongoing since snow and the cold through all the houses,” said Kibel. “You March 2020, there is more familiarity with online or remote can kind of just sit in the comfort of your own home in interaction,” wrote McCarthy in an email to The Sun. “One sweatpants and get to meet people that way.” benefit to virtual recruitment is that students can participate Yuasa also highlighted the convenience prospective regardless of when they come back to campus.” members now have at their fingertips. He told the Sun that For some Cornellians, however, the switch to virtual instead of having to choose one event to attend for the entire recruitment proved to be a disappointment. Julia Salatti ’25, night, virtual recruitment allows PNMs to jump back and Sun Staff Writer and Sun Contributor
JULIA NAGEL / SUN ASSISTANT PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Bid day | Limited bid day celebration takes place at Pi Beta Phi as the new members are welcomed by the house.
forth between different Zoom calls. “The clothing doesn’t matter as much,” observed Annie Stewart ’25, who took part in virtual sorority recruitment events this spring. “There’s not as many indicators of wealth.” Fraternities and sororities have made significant efforts to adapt the recruitment process to the new normal. Kibel’s sorority, Alpha Chi Omega, found new opportunities to showcase their chapter’s personality. “We had one of the members of our chapter kind of take everyone on a tour virtually through the house,” Kibel said. “When we were in person, you were just on the ground floor, so I thought the video aspect was really personal and nice.” McCarthy told the Sun that the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life is hopeful for future in-person activities and events to promote further interactions between the new and existing members. “We are also hopeful that once COVID conditions on campus allow for more in-person activity,” said McCarthy, “there will be the opportunity for personal and in person interactions and events between new members and members.” Many Cornellians expressed optimism about the switch, despite the challenges it presented. “Bonding looks different,” said Kibel. “But it’s still just as rewarding.” Jiwook Jung can be reached at jjung@cornellsun.com. Kevin Cheng can be reached at kyc36@cornell.edu.
Ithaca Starbucks Locations Seek to Unionize By PAREESAY AFZAL Sun Staff Writer
Nadia Vitek was making drinks at their Starbucks shift during the Fall 2021 semester when their supervisor informed them of a potential active shooter. After
evacuating the store and sheltering in place due to a credible bomb threat, their manager, who had been working remotely, made them reopen on the same day. “It was jarring to me that that decision wasn’t made by anyone who was actually there,” Vitek JASON WU / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Starbucks Union | Starbucks workers in Ithaca come together to form a union to demand better wages and a safer COVID-19 work environment.
said. “I was horrified that we were made to work after that.” Scout Coker ’22, a Cornellian who works at Starbucks, told The Sun that the November incident compounded the need for unionization efforts, which had already begun a few weeks prior. According to Coker, when he raised the issue to his coworkers at a meeting, every employee agreed that the situation had made them feel unsafe. “It made a lot of people realize that we shared a collective discontent,” Coker said. On Jan. 25, through its official Twitter page, Starbucks Workers United publicly announced its new campaign in Ithaca. This campaign represents all three Starbucks locations in Ithaca: College Avenue, the Commons and the newly opened Meadow St. drive-through location. According to the organizers, the Buffalo Starbucks’ December victory in union elections inspired the move for Ithaca’s.
One of the imminent demands the register have made it imposof the campaign is improvement in sible to enforce mask regulations. COVID-19 related policies. Vitek was not told to stop, but “We had a huge outbreak based to be more personable about it. on student exposure at my store,” said Evan “I had multiple bosses explicitly Sunshine ’24. “It baffles me that there’s not tell me that I couldn’t tell someenough protocol for that. Something needs one to put their mask on.” to change.” Scout Cocker ’22 The organizers cited several occasions when customer satisfaction was given precedence over worker “In the end, I stopped enforcing safety, in the face of COVID-19 masks. Two days after, I tested protocols. positive. Three others did too. We Coker said, “I had multiple closed the store for 10 days [because bosses explicitly tell me that I of staff shortage],” Vitek said. couldn’t tell someone to put their Liepe recounted an incident mask on, regardless of how nicely where she came into accidental I said it.” contact with one of the COVIDMasking was a New York State positive partners - the corporate law following the Omicron out- name for Starbucks workers. Her break. Hope Liepe, an organizing managers presented her the choice committee member, stated that to come into work or self-isolate, corporate manager instructions, meaning she would lose nearly a instructing workers to discreetly ask customers to wear a mask at See STARBUCKS page 3