INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun 8 Pages – Free
Vol. 139, No. 18
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2022 n ITHACA, NEW YORK
News
Dining
Science
Weather
Demonstrated Need
Final Frolic
Metabolites and the Mind
Cloudy
University President Martha Pollack's speech to trustees was silently protested by the Basic Needs Coalition. | Page 3
Ithaca waffle house Waffle Frolic closed its doors permanently on Oct. 15. Students recall their memories of the restaurant. | Page 5
Cornell researchers find significant metabolic changes associated with Alzheimer’s. | Page 8
Cornell TikTok Star Meets Biden
HIGH: 50º LOW: 35º
LEILANI BURKE / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
In conversations with the President and Vice President, the group discussed legislation and solutions to climate change By ANANTHI JAYASUNDERA Sun Staff Writer
With floods in Pakistan and Nigeria killing thousands and displacing millions, the need for climate change reform appears to be greater than ever — and a senior from Cornell was recently invited to the White House for playing his part as an advocate through Tik Tok videos. J.C. Dombrowski ’23, a marine biology and entomology double-major, is a social media content-creator with over 2.8 million followers on TikTok, 44,000 followers on Instagram and over 250 million TikTok likes. Dombrowski’s social media content typically ranges from sharing ocean and marine biology facts to discussing his favorite skincare products. His platform has also garnered him attention and opportunities from well known celebrities and the press. Among his interactions with public figures, Dombrowski has been interviewed for Bill Gates’ book, worked with Hailey Bieber on her skincare line and has been featured in Time Magazine. Most recently, the White House reached out to Dombrowski to arrange a conversation with the president. “I was reached out to by the Climate Political Action Committee, CPAC, to go to the White House to meet President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to discuss the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), climate progress and
how to talk to young people,” Dombrowski said. Initially, Dombrowski did not believe it was actually the White House that was reaching out to him. “When I first received the email from the White House during my physics lab, I thought it was a phishing scam,” Dombrowski said. “But I would rather get phished than do physics, so I responded.” About a week after the initial invitation, Dombrowski, along with 20 other writers, activists, lawyers, media spokespeople and creators, arrived at the White House on Sept. 13. Dombrowski said that their planned schedule shifted because of the death of the Queen. “This meant that we actually got to spend most of our time in the West Wing, which was an amazing privilege because usually nobody is allowed in the West Wing,” Dombrowski said. “It is very ‘hush hush,’ and we were not even allowed to have our phones on us.” Dombrowski and colleagues later moved to the Roosevelt Room, in which they sat at a long table and spoke to the Chief of Staff, Ron Klain, before Biden came in. “It was very, very surreal,” Dombrowski said. “I got to shake his hand, and he asked everyone in the room what their names were and where they are from. He also usually had a funny anecdote or memory about each place.” See TIKTOK page 3
COURTESY OF VIVIAN TU
TikTok-ing to Biden | J.C. Dombrowski '23 speaks to President Joe Biden about the climate crisis. Dombrowski was invited
Steep competition | Morrill Hall, above, houses departments where getting a tenured position has become harder.
Tenure Possibility Prioritized When Hiring New Faculty By GABRIEL MUÑOZ Sun Contributor
With a rising number of Ph.D. graduates struggling to find academic positions at universities across the world, tenure-track jobs are the much-discussed object of their search. Cornell continues to offer tenure track positions and mentorship to the next generation of academics, but the competition is steep. In the world of academia, having a tenured position in a higher education institution is considered the basis for a stable and successful career. However, many people outside of academia are unfamiliar with the process universities use to recruit academics to fill tenure track positions and decide who gets tenure. At Cornell, the tenure process typically begins when someone is hired as an assistant professor: a professor who, after a period of time, is set to get tenure. Cornell usually recruits junior-level faculty for these positions — meaning those who have recently finished their Ph.D. or a postdoctoral position. Walter S Carpenter Jr. Professor of International Studies Peter Katzenstein, government, said that this process is different at Cornell from some other universities. “We do not tend to hire people at the junior level if there is not a tenure track line. Other universities do, but we do not,” Katzenstein said. Professor Adam Smith, archaeology, said he thinks the
to the White Houe by the Climate Political Action Committee as part of a group of activists, writers, lawyers and media figures.
See TENURE page 3
Women at Cornell Experience Discrimination Across Campus By SOFIA CHIERCHIO Sun Staff Writer
Female students at Cornell are no strangers to issues of sexism and gender-based discrimination. Many report facing sexist behavior on campus or experiencing fear about sexism and discrimination. According to a 2017 Pew Research study, in the United States, 42% of women have experienced gender-based discrimination, specifically in the workplace. Women are 4 times more likely than men to
report that they have been treated as less competent due to their gender. Women at Cornell often share these experiences and others, such as pressures to dress a certain way to be taken seriously, looking over your shoulder while walking home alone at night, or being told to “smile more.” Jamie Levy ’23 feels that while Cornell does a great job of promoting gender equality on campus, she often faces safety concerns. “At night I do not feel comfortable walking around campus alone,”
Levy said. “I have heard of many unfortunate incidents happening to women on campus while they were walking home by themselves at night, so I always make sure to walk home with a friend or call an Uber… I’ve been taught to always have my guard up, especially at social events.” Another student, Erin Laney ’25, said she doesn’t face sexism at Cornell but still has concerns about being able to physically protect herself while in Ithaca. “Being a woman, I know I will
always need to be more alert than any man would ever have to,” Laney said. “If I’m alone walking at night, I make sure I’m always on the phone with someone, especially [given] that most of Cornell’s crime alerts happen close to where I live.” Among undergraduate students in the United States, 26.4% of women experience rape or sexual assault, and 5.8% of all students experience stalking. For students like Emily Abbruzzese ’23, these issues are deeply personal. “For the most part, I do feel
pretty safe and accepted on campus, but I mostly credit that to the support system that I have built for myself,” Abbruzzese said. “That being said, I have been hazed and sexually assaulted. It took me a while to realize that I endured these experiences while on campus because of how safe I perceive it. Although they do not define me, these experiences are a reminder that harm can still occur towards students.” Even beyond physical incidents, See GENDER page 3