INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 138, No. 65
TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2022
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ITHACA, NEW YORK
8 Pages – Free
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TikTok renews interest in Colleen Hoover's novel It Ends With Us, a heart-wrenching read. | Page 5
Men's lacrosse put a 13-game win streak on the line on Saturday when the team lost to Army. | Page 8
HIGH: 44º LOW: 35º
Ithaca First City to Unionize All Starbucks
Negotiations to begin after union vote By PAREESAY AFZAL Sun Assistant News Editor
Following efforts extending back to October, all three Ithaca Starbucks locations voted to unionize this past Friday, April 8. The outcomes of the votes for the College Avenue location, the Ithaca Commons location and the Meadow Street location were 19-1, 15-1 and 13-1, respectively. “A lot of my coworkers are very happy, but we know this is only the first step in the next chapter of our journey,” said Evan Sunshine ’24, a barista and mem-
ber of the union campaign’s organizing committee. “We’ll have to do bargaining with Starbucks for our first contract and only then we’ll be able to reap the benefits of the union.” For Nadia Vitek ’22, another organizing committee member, the relief of the vote was accompanied by frustration at the months-long, arduous process that Starbucks employees underwent to be permitted to vote for the formation of a union, which they consider a basic right. “We feel such a huge sense of relief also coupled with sad-
JASON WU / SUN ASSISTANT PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
ness that something so simple and basic shouldn't have to take this much work. [We faced] so much resistance for exercising our human rights,” Vitek said. This resistance, according to the Starbucks workers, came through union-busting methods used by corporate leaders at Starbucks, including intimidation tactics, the denial of breaks and overhiring to limit hours. In a conversation between Vitek and their manager, intended to serve as a discussion of potential See STARBUCKS page 3
Schumer Lauded for Bringing Big Funding to Cornell, Ithaca New magnet research facility receives $8.5 million
By ROMAN LAHAYE Sun News Editor
JASON WU / SUN ASSISTANT PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Holidays galore | Students across religious communities celebrated Easter, Passover and Ramadan this past weekend, with many coming together in Anabel Taylor Hall.
Students Celebrate Religious Holidays By SOFIA RUBINSON Sun News Editor
Students across campus celebrated Easter, Passover and Ramadan this weekend in a rare crossover of the holidays that occurs approximately every 30 years. Ramadan began on April 1 and continues throughout the month of April. During this holy month, Muslims commemorate the revelation of the Quran and draw closer to God through fasting and cultivating self-control, gratitude
and compassion. Muslims on campus have been celebrating this month by breaking fast in the Old World Room in the basement of Anabel Taylor Hall. “We are getting around 100 people every night to gather together, to eat together, break bread and to pray together, so this is the time of the year when you feel the most connected not just with the other Muslims on campus, but with the larger Muslim world,” See HOLIDAYS page 3
On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) made a visit to Cornell’s Ithaca Campus in a groundbreaking ceremony for a new magnet research facility at Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source. The ceremony marked $8.5 million in funding from the National Science Foundation for the construction of a $32.6 million expansion to CHESS: The High Magnetic Field X-Ray Beamline, a new expansion to CHESS’s facilities made in partnership with the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and the University of Puerto Rico. Although CHESS receives fees from researchers who use the lab, the facility’s fundraising relies heavily on grants such as these from government sources, including the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Air Force Research Lab. JULIA NAGEL / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Research funding | Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) visits Cornell’s CHESS research laboratory last Thursday, bringing millions in funding for magnet research.
As a result of grant-reliance, CHESS’s budget has not always been stable. In 2012, Schumer’s lobbying helped save the facility from significant budget cuts. At the groundbreaking ceremony, Schumer, who faces re-election this year in November, touted the additional jobs and scientific opportunities the new expansion will create, and the federal money he has directed to New York in his time in office. In his presentation, Schumer also discussed the United States Innovation and Competition Act of 2021, a bill
sponsored by Schumer meant to support scientific research amid the United States’ growing technological competition with China, which would provide another source of funding to facilities like CHESS. In an interview with The Sun, Prof. Joel Brock, applied and engineering physics, the director of CHESS who also spoke at the presentation, expressed excitement for the scientific possibilities the new facilities could bring to research ranging from the study of new quantum materials to the diffusion of metal in plants. To continue reading this story, please visit cornellsun. com.