NAMED NATIONAL FOUR-YEAR DAILY NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR FOR 2020-21 IN THE COLLEGE MEDIA ASSOCIATION’S PINNACLE AWARDS
Thursday, March 3, 2022
Volume 158 No. 16
INFOGRAPHIC BY CHRISTINA CASILLAS & BRYANNA BARTLETT; SOURCE: AUG. 12, 2021 SAN JOSE SPOTLIGHT ARTICLE, DEC. 9 2021 SAN JOSE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT NEWS RELEASE, DEC. 10, 2021 SAN JOSE SPOTLIGHT ARTICLE, JAN. 27 CBS ARTICLE
Local high school district puts cops on campus after a half-year removal SJSU community members oppose the decision, advocate for reform, alternatives By Eva Martin STAFF WRITER
San Jose State alumnus Carlos Escobar, who worked as a teacher for three years in the San Jose Unified School District, said he witnessed a Latina high school student facing aggressive behavior from a police officer in 2020. “When the police officer came . . . [he was] yelling to [her] ‘You want to be arrested right now?’ ” said Escobar, who worked in both high schools and middle schools within the district, in a phone call. He said that was the moment he realized how intimidating police officers could be for students, especially for those who are Black and Latinx. “[Students] felt they were targeted just because of their skin color . . . [or officers were] looking at them as suspicious people,” Escobar said. “That’s one of the reasons why I [have] always advocated for them.” The San Jose Unified School District decided on Jan. 27 to hire 27 additional police officers, a reversal of a June 24, 2021 decision removing police officers from high school campuses in wake of George Floyd’s murder and subsequent social justice movements. This decision is in effect until June 30. An advisory committee, including two district board members, will oversee the district’s use of police and evaluate what should happen after June, according to a Dec. 10, 2021 San Jose Spotlight article. The San Jose Unified School District covers a portion of San Jose from Downtown to Almaden Valley, serving more than 30,000 students from transitional kindergarten to high school, according
to its website. The district’s removal agreement voted in June ended in August 2021 and re-introduced police officers on campus only for special events including football games and dance shows, according to an Aug. 12, 2021 San Jose Spotlight article. On Dec. 9 2021, the district approved an agreement with the City of San Jose regarding SJPD officers on campus, outlining rules and responsibilities police officers have on campus. Among these requirements, officers should wear school uniforms on campus and receive training on de-escalation, implicit bias, and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Strategies. After the Jan. 27 district’s decision, each school in the district can also request a school resource officer to work on campus during school hours, according to a Jan. 27 CBS article. The school district board members approved funding for the newly onboarded officers to be paid $8,000 each, totaling $217,000, according to the same CBS article. The decision follows a months-long fight between pro and anti-campus police advocates and the division remains between many San Jose community members, including Escobar, who opposes campus-police presence. Crystal Calhoun, media spokesperson of the San Jose Unified Equity Coalition, said teachers, counselors, parents and students call her with other members of the coalition and ask, “Why are these cops back?” The San Jose Unified Equity Coalition is an organization that promotes police-free campuses and an increased investment in students’ mental health, said Calhoun. Calhoun, who has four grandchildren attending school in the San Jose Unified School District, said the $217,000 dedicated to the police officers’ return to the district’s high school campuses is a “waste of money” that should be given to student mental health infrastructures. “That money could be better served by hiring counselors and paying them a fair wage,” Calhoun said. Jennifer Maddox, San Jose Unified School District director of communication and engagement, said there’s no choice to be made between the two investments.
“We don’t look at those as [if] we’re either going to invest in mental health or we’re going to invest in safety,” Maddox said. “We need to invest in both things because it is our job to maintain safe campuses for students.” She said the district’s high schools never reported issues with police officers to its board members and they didn’t find better alternatives to their campus presence. “I don’t mean that schools aren’t safe,” Maddox said. “What I mean is . . . our administrators were spending a tremendous amount of time dealing with emergencies [after police officers had been removed].” She said on-campus police officers allow a quick answer to “any emergency” happening on site. Maddox added that most of the district’s work is to assist student victims of crimes in taking police reports, whether or not the crime happened at school.
[Students] felt they were targeted just because of their skin color . . . [or officers were] looking at them as suspicious people. That’s one of the reasons why I [have] always advocated for them. Carlos Escobar, SJSU alumnus, San Jose Unified School District high school teacher
“So there are a lot of reasons [why] working with an officer makes sense,” she said. “There’s a national discussion that’s happening about the police that I think doesn’t necessarily reflect the situation in San Jose Unified.” Maddox said several students told the district’s board members that they have good relationships with their designated police officer on campus, even if they don’t like seeing police cars driving in their own neighborhoods. According to an Aug. 21, 2021 NBC Bay Area article, other school districts
including Oakland and San Francisco Unified removed officers from school campuses but didn’t feel the need to put them back in place. The districts built a plan for restorative justice and raised their counseling actions and intervention. Escobar said removing police from their campuses is a means of restorative justice and promotes an inclusive environment for all students. Diana Velasquez, an SJSU communications studies senior, was a student at James Lick High School in San Jose’s East Side Union High School District. Velasquez said police officers on her high school campus didn’t make students feel safe. She said at SJSU, she’s had a different experience with campus police and often relies on campus Bluelight Phones when she’s feeling unsafe in the area. Bluelight Phones are emergency telephones located throughout campus that ring directly to the UPD Communication Center, according to the UPD Bluelight Phones webpage. Velazquez said if police officers were removed from SJSU’s campus, she’d feel uneasy about her safety. “[UPD officers] always seem caring and reliable,” she said. Katrena Thompson, SJSU child development sophomore and San Jose Unified School District high school alumna, said she wishes SJSU didn’t have on-campus police until a systemic change happens within the industry. Thompson said her anti-police feelings stem from her high school experience with heavily present, on-campus police officers and those feelings haven’t dissipated at the university. “I, as a woman, understand why having police [officers] is a safety unit, considering we have a defense system called Bluelight Phones on campus,” she said. “But it’s still the same issue [as high school district police departments], they need to be reformed before I can put any trust in them whatsoever.”
Follow the Spartan Daily on Twitter @SpartanDaily
2
sjsunews.com/spartan_daily
OPINION
THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2022
ILLUSTRATION BY DAISHA SHERMAN
An audience for Ye’s rampage We’re enabling West’s abusiveness and struggle with mental illness on social media a TikTok account, Kardashian’s He can do something rumored relationship with unacceptable and make a post Saturday Night Live comedian about “taking accountability” Pete Davidson and even her (which he did before making yet decision to divorce him. another post about Davidson), but The harassment from West we as an audience need to take his and his fans has been so bad bipolar disorder, which is also Davidson opted to deactivate his characterized by racing thoughts Joaquin De La Torre Instagram completely. and elevated energy levels, into STAFF WRITER These posts, usually featuring account when viewing his content. captions written in all caps with “I know sharing screen shots was If you asked anybody in the early no punctuation, have included jarring and came off as harassing aughts what they thought about photos of private text conversations Kim. I take accountability. I’m still rapper and producer Kanye “Ye” with Kardashian, memes targeting learning in real time. I don’t have West, they might say he loves Davidson and posts targeting all the answers,” Ye said in an creating a spectacle and is a artists who are friends of or Instagram post featuring a picture known social provocateur. work with Davidson, who he of his silhouette submerged in But a decade later, the “All Falls calls “Skete. ” clouds of smoke. Down” singer came forward publicly about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder in a 2018 interview with talk show host Jimmy Kimmel and As consumers of pop culture, it’s easy released his eighth studio album, to get lost in the spectacle of this divorce, “Ye,” with artwork stating “I hate so much so that we start to forget these being Bi-Polar its awesome.” This diagnosis contextualizes his are real people who are experiencing recent actions and is a challenge public traumas. to consumers of pop-culture to not misinterpret his unhinged harassment of other celebrities As consumers of pop culture, His words say one thing but his for entertainment. it’s easy to get lost in the spectacle actions say another. All we have to Ye has posted on Instagram and of this divorce, so much so that do is look at his past actions and exclaimed his way back into the we start to forget these are real recognize the pattern that shows media spotlight as he navigates he’s unable to keep his word. through a very public and, although people who are experiencing public traumas. We absolutely cannot absolve his seemingly self-inflicted, painful Ye, although the source of behavior just because he is unwell, divorce with Hollywood royalty frustration for the divorce, is a but it’s important to consider Kim Kardashian. person living with bipolar disorder, it when we try to talk about In a series of Instagram posts a mental illness that causes poor this situation because it is a part starting in February, Ye began decision making and a heightened of who he is. harassing Kardashian with his sense of self-confi dence, according In the same vein, we cannot grievances including allowing their to the Mayo Clinic. silence Ye because he is unwell. daughter, North West, to have ABOUT The Spartan Daily prides itself on being the San Jose State community’s top news source. New issues are published every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday throughout the academic year and online content updated daily.
EDITORIAL STAFF EXECUTIVE EDITOR MADILYNNE MEDINA MANAGING EDITOR CHRISTINA CASILLAS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER AMANI HAMED PRODUCTION EDITOR BRYANNA BARTLETT
The Spartan Daily is written and published by San Jose State students as an expression of their First Amendment rights.
MULTIMEDIA & ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR EVAN REINHARDT
Reader feedback may be submitted as letters to the editor or online comments.
ASSISTANT A&E EDITOR JOVANNA OLIVARES
A&E EDITOR SAUMYA MONGA
OPINION EDITOR MADISON FAGUNDES
SPORTS EDITOR ESTEVAN LOPEZ SCIENCE & TECH EDITOR ROYVI HERNANDEZ SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR SAMANTHA HERRERA PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR TRAVIS WYNN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS AI BLY SANDRA SANTOS-CRUZ COPY EDITORS REBECCA LEE CHRISTINE STEVENS ALAN BAEZ BRIANA CONTE SAVANNAH NATIVIDAD ISALIA GALLO
Ye’s current actions are going to have lifelong ramifications for his relationship with his ex-wife, his children and his future endeavors, but that doesn’t mean we should silence him. This situation reminds me of the recent dissolution of pop star Britney Spears’ conservatorship. For 13 years following a public breakdown, Spears was under a court-appointed conservatorship in which her father, James Spears, controlled her personal and professional life, finances and medical decisions, according to a Sept. 22, 2021 New York Times article. I don’t want that fate for Ye just like I didn’t want that for Spears. I think he is a great artist who’s struggling with serious, life-altering circumstances. This is one of those moments in which the audience has to decide for themselves whether they can separate the artist from the art. As consumers of pop-culture, we get to pick and choose what our media diet consists of and his harassment of the new couple is boring, tired and unfortunate. We can do better than eagerly watching one poor man’s unraveling.
Follow the Spartan Daily on Twitter @SpartanDaily
GRAPHICS EDITORS NICK YBARRA LINDSAY VILLAMOR AUDREY TSENG DAISHA SHERMAN AARON CHEUNG BIANCA RADER HANNAH GREGORIC XENA SEO
ADVERTISING STAFF
CONTACT US
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR MIA WICKS
EDITORIAL – MAIN TELEPHONE: (408) 924-3821
STAFF WRITERS D’NETRUS CHEVIS-ROSE JENNIFER SCHILDGE SAMANTHA DIETZ JOAQUIN DE LA TORRE HAILEY FARGO GIO GAXIOLA EVA MARTIN
ADVERTISING REPS TYSON TSOI ERICK BAQUERA ELENA RAZGONOV MOISES LLAMAS HAYLEY WATANABE THI TUYET MAI TRUONG RONALDO MENDOZA ESPINOZA AARON LAO JENNIFER YEH REGINA GRAJO CHELSEY THAI AMARI JOHNSON
SENIOR STAFF WRITERS CHRISTOPHER NGYUEN DON LE JAMIE BENNETT PRODUCTION CHIEF MIKE CORPOS NEWS ADVISER RICHARD CRAIG
CREATIVE DIRECTOR SHANALL SNEED
ADVERTISING ADVISER TIM HENDRICK
EMAIL: spartandaily@gmail.com
ADVERTISING – TELEPHONE: 408-924-3240 EMAIL: spartandailyadvertising @gmail.com
CORRECTIONS POLICY The Spartan Daily corrects all significant errors that are brought to our attention. If you suspect we have made such an error, please send an email to spartandaily@gmail.com.
EDITORIAL POLICY Columns are the opinion of individual writers and not that of the Spartan Daily. Editorials reflect the majority opinion of the Editorial Board, which is made up of student editors.
sjsunews.com/spartan_daily
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2022
3
‘Euphoria,’ dizzy and dazzling By Madilynne Medina EXECUTIVE EDITOR
“Euphoria,” an HBO-original drama directed by Sam Levinson, concluded its second season on Sunday. The show details the intertwining lives of high school teenagers as they experience addiction, trauma and love. Many viewers had anticipated the show’s season finale after sex scandals were revealed and characters hit their breaking points. The majority of the second season featured main character Rue, played by American actress Zendaya, spiraling through her frenzied drug addiction. During the second half of the season, Rue experiences a gut-wrenching relapse, leaving her feeling hopeless and broken. Zendaya’s acting throughout the entire season was phenomenal, showing the unfathomable feeling of hitting rock bottom as a substance abuser. As a viewer, I’ve always supported Rue – not because addiction should be romanticized, but because the show unravels the real-life journey of someone who falls into the dangerous cycle of drug abuse. While to many it may not seem the substance abuse is realistic, the themes are relevant to the ongoing drug crisis among youth in the U.S. Illicit or injection drugs including cocaine and heroin were used by 15% of high school students and 14% of students reported misusing prescription opioids, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adolescent and school health webpage last updated Oct. 2020. After Rue’s father dies in her early teens she experiences anguish and sorrow, which the show alludes to being
ILLUSTRATION BY XENA SEO
a contributing factor to her addiction. The harrowing effects of Rue’s addiction hurt the people around her, specifically her mother and sister, as they endure the traumatic effects of just trying to keep her alive. The show also addresses betrayal between friends in the midst of a drug withdrawal. Rue reveals that her friend Cassie, played by American actress Sydney Sweeney, has been sleeping with her best friend’s former boyfriend, Nate, who is played by Jacob Elordi. This jaw-dropping moment occurs during an intervention for Rue, but she reveals this secret in an effort to distract the group from her addiction and she runs away as the chaos erupts. Rue’s actions in this episode show how some suffering from drug abuse go to extremes to satisfy
their unbearable withdrawals, even if it means hurting others. The final episode of “Euphoria” had fans itching to see how all the intertwining plots would resolve, but many fans were left disappointed because of the unfinished conflicts. Early in the season, Rue collaborates with chillingly quiet drug dealer Laurie, played by Martha Kelly, but soon Rue’s mother dumps the drugs her daughter acquired down the toilet. Rue becomes manic, as she freaks out about the disposed drugs and suddenly owes thousands of dollars to a drug lord. We never find out what happens in this storyline; Laurie just disappears from the show and Rue goes about her merry way. While “Euphoria” tells multifaceted stories of people of color, women, and LGBTQ individuals the show doesn’t have
CLASSIFIEDS CROSSWORD PUZZLE
a writers room, according to a Monday New York Times article. Levinson wrote every episode solo, which could explain his inability to develop the complex stories of these characters. The final episode’s pinnacle occurs during the play created by Lexi Howard, who’s played by Maude Apatow. The play consisted of the life events of her friends and family, including Rue, Cassie, and Maddy. At one point, Lexi’s play reveals Cassie’s sex scandal, prompting Cassie to run on stage and have a tantrum similar to a toddler who didn’t get what they want. From the audience, Maddy then says “Somebody needs to put this bitch down,” and runs on stage, in front of the whole school, to slap Cassie in the face. This moment had fans, including myself, rooting for Maddy, who didn’t even break a nail.
SUDOKU PUZZLE Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains every digit from 1 to 9 inclusively.
Despite the plot holes the artistic choices in the season, especially in the season finale, were memorable. The finale was ultimately focused on Lexi’s play at its surface, but viewers were able to connect to the deeper stories of the characters as the scenes changed from past to present. In the play, Lexi portrays the passing of Rue’s father as a pivotal moment in her life that moves her to take on the role of a caretaker for her friend. Despite such phenomenal actors and meaningful themes, the writing was mostly disappointing, but I was pleased with Rue’s journey at the end of the final episode. During the entire series, Rue despises herself for her addiction because she lost control of her life and hurt those around her. Viewers can empathize with Rue and realize she’s a victim of a mental health and drug crisis. This is ultimately why so many fans love Rue despite her actions. Lexi’s play makes Rue realize what her life looks like from the eyes of others and she seems to forgive herself, realizing that she’s not the villain she thought she was. Rue was constantly hard on herself throughout the show, which perhaps parallels the behavior of real-life drug addicts who get lost in their lives and lack self-forgiveness. Rue’s resolution is beautiful, as she starts to recover from the nightmare addiction phase that we’ve witnessed through the two seasons. The latest season of “Euphoria” was vertigo-inducing, unsettling and dazzling all at once.
Follow Madilynne on Twitter @madilynneee
JOKIN’ AROUND “What do you call a sleeping bull?”
“A Bulldozer!”
SOLUTIONS
ACROSS 1. Mother 5. Confined 10. Contributes 14. Cain’s brother 15. Mistake 16. Used to be 17. Unity 19. Largest continent 20. Lyric poem 21. Genus of heath 22. Hops 23. Sewing tools 25. Mature 27. Hearing organ 28. Neatness 31. Crinkly 34. Shrunken 35. Bite 36. Absorb written material 37. Dishes out 38. Beige 39. Mistake 40. Rural area (British) 41. Cornered 42. Having no intelligible meaning 44. Mist 45. Suffuse 46. Neck artery 50. Donkeys
52. Jaunty rhythms 54. Ribonucleic acid 55. Laugh 56. Drunkenness 58. Always 59. Late actor Christopher 60. Not closed 61. Untidiness 62. Venomous snake 63. Dampens DOWN 1. A worker of stone 2. Residence 3. Donnybrook 4. Anagram of “Ail” 5. Holder 6. German iris 7. Relating to urine 8. Certified 9. Not wet 10. Rouse 11. A grammatical ending 12. Trickle 13. Oceans 18. Wait 22. Whirl 24. Accomplishment 26. Midmonth date 28. Name of a book 29. “Your majesty” 30. Potato
31. Small songbird 32. Relating to aircraft 33. Shellacs 34. Prevaricated 37. List of options 38. Therefore 40. Nets 41. Body 43. Besmirches 44. Male parent 46. Split 47. Balderdash 48. Map within a map 49. Curses 50. Throat-clearing sound 51. Rescue 53. Anagram of “Dice” 56. Genus of macaws 57. Not high
PLACE YOUR AD HERE Place your Classified Ads Online at Spartandaily. CampusAve.com
Contact us at 408.924.3270 or email us at
SpartanDailyAdvertising @sjsu.edu
Our office at DBH 213 is closed because of the pandemic.
4
sjsunews.com/spartan_daily
SCIENCE & TECH
THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2022
ILLUSTRATION BY BIANCA RADER
Asteroid is just visiting, experts say By Madilynne Medina EXECUTIVE EDITOR
An asteroid 1.3 kilometers in size, or the size of the Golden Gate Bridge, will pass close to Earth on Friday. Thomas Madura, San Jose State associate professor of physics and astronomy who’s also worked at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said the asteroid is bigger than about 97% of other asteroids. However, the asteroid, formally known as 2001 CB21, is just 0.02 Astronomical Units or more than 1.8 million miles from Earth’s orbit at its closest point, according to the Space Reference webpage. This distance is 10 times as far as the moon is from Earth. Gianluca Masi, an astronomer at the Virtual Telescope Project in Italy, captured an image of theasteroidonJan.30,whenCB21wasmorethan 21.5 million miles away, according to a Feb. 2 Newsweek article. Madura said most asteroids, including CB21, are leftover materials from the original formation of the solar system. CB21 is predicted to pass by Earth at 3:00 a.m. EST on Friday, traveling at 26,800 miles per hour, according to a Feb. 2 Newsweek article. Curtis Asplund, SJSU assistant physics professor with a specialization
in high-energy theoretical physics, said the speed of the asteroid is not concerning. “It’s not unusual for things in space, including planets like the Earth, to move at thousands and thousands of miles per hour,” he said in a Zoom call. “So the asteroid is not unusual in that sense, things in the solar system move that fast.” Dan Werthimer, physics researcher at UC Berkeley, said CB21 is a particularly interesting asteroid because it crosses the orbit of the Earth. “Every time [CB21] comes around, it’s gonna cross the orbit of Earth,” he said in a phone call. “And that could be, you know, far away, it could be a couple 100 million miles away, or occasionally comes close.” Werthimer said there are days every few years in which CB21 passes close to Earth, including this Friday. The asteroid is predicted to have 14 close approaches to Earth throughout the current century, the next instance occuring on Sept. 29, 2026, according to the same Space Reference webpage. Werthimer said asteroids of this distance are categorized as “potentially hazardous.” A potentially hazardous asteroid is defined based on parameters that measure its potential to make “threatening close approaches to
– send a letter to the editor – Letters to the Editor may be placed in the letters to the editor box in the Spartan Daily office in Dwight Bentel Hall, Room 209 or emailed to spartandaily@gmail.com to the attention of the Spartan Daily Opinion Editor. Letters to the Editor must contain the author’s name, year and major. Letters become property of the Spartan Daily and may be edited for clarity, grammar, libel and length. Only letters of 300 words or less will be considered for publication. Published opinions and advertisements do not necessarily reflect the views of the Spartan Daily, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication or SJSU. The Spartan Daily is a public forum.
Earth,” according to NASA’s webpage. “What [a potentially hazardous asteroid] simply means is that it’s an asteroid whose orbit crosses the orbit of the Earth, and it’s predicted to get close to the Earth,” Thomas Madura said.
also just government funding, like the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies . . . this is a major benefit to society.” Madura said while CB21 is a relatively large asteroid, an asteroid would have to be comparable in size to another planet to
Our telescopes and our technology has gotten more powerful over the years. Now when these things come close, we can study them in more detail and understand them more so that we can prepare for any future ones that may come closer or make it that way we have more information and we can better prepare ourselves. Thomas Madura SJSU associate professor of physics and astronomy
Madura said about 15,000 to 16,000 of these potentially hazardous asteroids cross the Earth’s orbit. While potentially hazardous asteroids are not always detrimental to Earth, NASA is working on projects to defend the planet against near-earth objects, including the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission, according to the DART Mission NASA webpage. The asteroid system is designed to intentionally crash a spacecraft into an asteroid to change its course and prevent a collision with Earth, according to the same webpage. DART launched on Nov. 24, 2021 and is the world’s first full-scale mission to test defensive Earth technology against asteroids. The DART spacecraftwillimpactaknown,non-threatening asteroid with a goal of changing the trajectory, according to the same webpage. Professor Asplund said DART is an “interesting mission” and an effective way to prevent a collision. “That is probably our best bet in terms of, you know, avoiding an impact if it ever comes to that,” he said. “It’s all about changing the momentum and applying forces.” Asplund also mentioned that the DART mission is a “good reminder” of the benefits of investing in astronomy, NASA and science. “One of the reasons that it’s good to [invest in science] is so that we can know about this kind of stuff,” he said. “So it’s NASA, but it’s
“completely shatter the Earth,” if it was to strike the planet. There are currently no known asteroids larger than 140 meters with a significant chance of hitting Earth for the next 100 years, but only 40% of those asteroids have been discovered as of October 2021, according to NASA’s webpage. Madura said there is “a lot of uncertainty” though, regarding asteroid preparation and prevention because the systems are still being tested. “We definitely wouldn’t want to blow [an asteroid] up, because that would just send a lot of smaller pieces potentially at us,” he said. “But one of the things we would probably try to do is probably try to nudge it - to knock it off course.” He said with developing technology, CB21 provides an opportunity to study near-Earth asteroids in more detail. “Our telescopes, and our technology has gotten more powerful over the years,” Madura said. “Now when these things come close, we can study them in more detail and understand them more so that we can prepare for any future ones that may come closer or make it that way we have more information and we can better prepare ourselves.”
Follow Madilynne on Twitter @Madilynneee