NAMED NATIONAL FOUR-YEAR DAILY NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR FOR 2020-21 IN THE COLLEGE MEDIA ASSOCIATION’S PINNACLE AWARDS
Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Volume 158 No. 18 SERVING SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934
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UKRAINE CONFLICT
BOJANA CVIJIC | SPARTAN DAILY
Local demonstrators stand on the sidewalk in front of San Jose City Hall, which is illuminated with Ukraine’s flag colors as a symbol of the city’s solidarity, on Tuesday evening.
San Jose officials, community respond to Russia’s invasion Councilmembers move forward with several proposals backing Ukraine
South Bay group organizes event in support of Ukraine as conflict continues
By Eva Martin
By Bojana Cvijic
San Jose City Council adopted recommendations proposed by council members and other city officials on March 2 to support Ukraine as Russia continues its military invasion of the country. Councilmembers adopted symbolic solidarity actions including lighting City Hall’s Tower and Rotunda in the colors of the Ukrainian Flag, preserving the sister-city relation with the westcentral Russian city of Ekaterinburg and sending a letter to the city’s citizens. “I appreciate that we’re all trying to just find ways in which we can be of some use in . . . a horrible situation of threatening and military aggression against innocent civilians,” San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said. About 2 million refugees have fled Ukraine as of Tuesday, according to the United Nations (UN) Refugee Agency. Since Russia attacked on Feb. 24 to March 6, 406 Ukrainians were killed, 27 of whom were children, and 801 civilians were injured, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reported in a Monday statement. Russian officials proposed a ceasefire that would start today at 10 a.m. Moscow time and said humanitarian corridors will be provided in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Mariupol and other towns negotiated with the Ukrainian side, according to a March 8 CNN report. Sylvia Arenas, San Jose District 8 councilmember, proposed suspending the sister-city relationship with Ekaterinburg, located in west-central Russia. “Ending a sister-city relationship over political matters of
Local advocates and community members gathered Tuesday at San Jose City Hall for a candlelight vigil to object to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24th is further escalation in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict following the 2014 annexation of Crimea and conflicts in south-eastern Ukraine with Russian-backed separatist forces. The event was organized by Orchard City Indivisible, an advocacy group focused on actions related to “stopping any agenda built on racism, authoritarianism, and corruption,” according to its website. Representatives of the group said one of these local actions was organizing the Tuesday vigil, which called for community members to continue supporting those in Ukraine. Lam Nguyen, communications director of the South Bay chapter, said Orchard City Indivisible started as a “progressive movement” after the election of former president Donald Trump. “Ever since [Trump’s election], we’ve been an organization that’s focused on social equity, and local political actions as well,” he said “We’re a very action oriented group.” Valeriia Karnaukhova, San Jose State international relations masters student, said during the event that she’s worried about the conflict in Ukraine. “From this moment, my life wouldn’t be the same. I’m from the center of Ukraine,” she said. “We have no bombarding for now but I’m constantly worried about the safety of my friends and my family.”
STAFF WRITER
CITY COUNCIL | Page 2
NEWS EDITOR
If we do this, other cities would soon follow and would be setting the bar on what the local folks can do on Putin’s war of aggression. Victor Magallanes SJSU aviation senior
VIGIL | Page 2
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NEWS
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2022
CITY COUNCIL Continued from page 1 national governments is not a normal action, but across the globe each and every organization that interacts with Russia is asking themselves what their formal relationships communicate in this moment,” Arenas stated in her memorandum. Liccardo did not agree with Arenas’ view and said in his memorandum that suspending “the sister-city relationship would be an act of ‘empty symbolism’. ” Victor Magallanes, SJSU aviation senior, said he believes San Jose should have temporarily suspended its partnership with the Russian city. He said San Jose should ban any entities which are linked to Putin’s government and welcome as many Ukrainian refugees as possible. “If we do this, other cities would soon follow and would be setting the bar on what the local folks can do on Putin’s war of aggression,” Magallanes said. Tim Quigley, president of the Ekaterinburg city program, said the City of San Jose shouldn’t end or interfere in the 31-year-old partnership during this “critical time.” “Today in our efforts to support and help those who are under
assault, the people of Ukraine, we must not demonize or make the situation more difficult for those who are being oppressed, the people of Russia,” Quigley said. Arenas clarified during the meeting that her intention was not to end the cities’ communication but to show a united stance with Ukraine locally. She said if the city decides to keep a privileged link with the Russian city, we should explore a new partnership with an Ukrainian one. Sergio Jimenez, district 2 councilmember, asked to change the recommendation, which initially suggested sending “two letters which express concern over the Russian’s government’s actions and consider suspending the sister-city relationship with Ekaterinburg (Yekaterinburg), Russia.” He said this “government to government letter” will impact San Jose city officials’ willingness to stay open to the sister-city relationship. Jimenez said the city should instead write a letter to Ekaterinburg’s citizens to express San Jose’s support to those standing against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government. This amendment has been approved by the city council, and San Jose will preserve its relationship with
VIGIL Continued from page 1 Over 2 million refugees have fled Ukraine, mostly women and children, since Russia invaded, according to a Tuesday NPR article. Karnaukhova said she feels Russia’s aggression in Ukraine is harming the lives of Ukrainian citizens. “[Ukraine] has its own traditions, its own language and more than [thousands of] years of history, it can be destroyed,” Karnaukhova said. “People of Ukraine [and the] Ukrainian army, Ukrainian civilians [are] protecting and defending our homeland. I’m very proud of my people.” Russia announced early Tuesday terms for Ukraine that must be met to end the conflict. Terms include accepting the annexation of Crimea, amending the constitution and ending any ambitions to join political blocs including the North Atlantic Treaty
EVAN REINHARDT | SPARTAN DAILY
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and City Manager Jennifer Maguire express support for Ukraine Tuesday.
its sister city Ekaterinburg. If the majority of the adopted recommendations are symbolic, including the lighting of city hall, District 4 Councilmember David Cohen said in a post-meeting email that they also decided to evaluate if there are
Organization (NATO) and the European Union according to ABC News. Celeste Walker, co-chair of Orchard City Indivisible, also spoke at the event against the “global rise of authoritarianism.” Walker said she believes Russian President Vladimir Putin has the intent of “consolidating his power and weakening democracy around the world.” “[Putin] intervened in the Syrian civil war during a democratic uprising,” she said. “He is a central force keeping authoritarian Alexander Lukashenko in power in Belarus, even as his own people rise up to demand freedom.” In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, U.S. President Joe Biden announced several bans on Russian exports, including U.S. imports of Russian oil and gas, according to a Tuesday NPR article. Russia is now the most sanctioned country in the world, according to a
Russian investments from which the city can divest. Cohen said the city values its sister-city relationship with Ekaterinburg and stands with the people of Russia who are also “victims of Putin’s autocratic rule.” “We must never forget that our
Tuesday Washington Post article. Western leaders have imposed other Russian sanctions and frozen the assets of Russia’s central bank, restricting its access to over $630 billion of its reserves according to a Tuesday BBC article. Biden said in a Tuesday statement that the decision to impose more sanctions was made in consultation with U.S. allies and has gained bipartisan support. “Russian oil will no longer be accepted at U.S. ports, and the American people will deal another powerful blow to Putin’s war machine,” he said. Nguyen said while he is content with Biden’s sanctions, he feels there are alternatives to address the conflict. “I’m afraid that a lot of the actions taken will hurt the Russian people, and not necessarily the Russian leadership,” he said. “So what we are trying to do as [Orchard City Indivisible] is to push President Biden and others within the sphere of global leadership, to pressure
freedoms here in the United States can be eroded without an engaged citizenry and to dedicate ourselves to support those abroad to do the same,” Cohen said. Follow the Spartan Daily on Twitter @SpartanDaily
from that perspective, and not necessarily just put perspective or put punishments on the people.” Orchard City members also encouraged attendees at the event to donate to websites for humanitarian aid. Karnaukhova said she plans to table at the SJSU campus on Thursday to bring awareness of the Ukraine conflict to fellow students. She said she feels that the campus community is supportive of those anxious about the conflict in Ukraine. “My faculty are supportive and professors are always worried about what’s happening there,” she said. “So you know, many questions and actually the International Students Office, wrote me an email as well and definitely told me, you will have the possibility right now to organize overtime to participate.” Follow Bojana on Twitter @Bojanaacv
CAMPUS IMAGES
PHOTOS BY EVAN REINHARDT
Above: San Jose State art lecturer Rebecca Foster demonstrates the printmaking process for her lithography class Monday in the Art Building. Foster has been teaching at SJSU for two years but has taught art elsewhere for the last 13 years. “I love lithography because it’s such a collaborative, democratic medium. It embraces the idea of multiplicity,” Foster said. Lithography is a printing process in which a design is drawn onto a flat stone and affixed using chemical reactions. Right: SJSU pictorial art senior Melody Shepard applies a gum-arabic solution to her design during the lithography class. She and other students based their designs on the theme of migration. “I’m pretty new to printmaking but I’ve been painting and drawing since I was young,” Shepard said.
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OPINION
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2022
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U.S. soccer lawsuit: a step toward wage equality Eva Martin STAFF WRITER
I feel relieved to see the U.S. Soccer Federation finally reject years of sexist arguments justifying the gender gap between athletes’ wages. It’s a relief to see a sport federation finally acknowledge physical differences shouldn’t be used to denigrate women’s athletic performance. On Feb. 22, the U.S. Soccer Federation, the governing body for professional soccer in the U.S., reached a $24 million settlement and a pledge to equalize pay for men’s and women’s national soccer teams after a six-year legal battle with the U.S. women’s national team. For years, the U.S. Soccer Federation treated the team’s demand for equal pay as something controversial instead of seeing it for what it was: a legitimate and necessary request to be heard and fairly compensated. The legal struggle began in March 2016 when five players of the U.S. women’s national soccer team filed a federal claim alleging wage discrimination, as female
athletes were earning 40% of what the male players earned. Former U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati justified the egregious wage gap by saying female athletes deserve to be paid less, not because of lesser athletic performance, but because their games attracted fewer viewers. Winning four World Cup titles and four Olympic gold medals should’ve been enough to justify their worth, but apparently it wasn’t. U.S. Soccer Federation officials claimed it wasn’t their fault, it’s how the market works. Instead of trying to correct a market that was pulling down their best internationally-ranked players, the officials escaped responsibility and accepted the injustices of the system. In 2017, female players decided to negotiate a new collective bargain with the U.S. Soccer Federation and managed to make a deal for an “equitable and fair”, but not equal pay according to an April 5, 2017 New York Times article. Still far from an equal pay agreement, players withdrew their original complaint in 2019 and sued the U.S. Soccer Federation in federal court for gender discrimination. The U.S. Soccer Federation argued in March 2020 legal
ILLUSTRATION BY JOVANNA OLIVARES
filings that the job of a male athlete “requires a higher level of skill based on speed and strength,” and “indisputable science” proves male players’ superiority. After these statements gathered public condemnation, the Soccer Federation fired its lawyers and Carlos Cordeiro, president of the organization since 2018, resigned. Women’s team players appealed the federal judge’s April 2020 decision to dismiss the players’ equal pay argument and finally won. They defeated arguments broadly used in the athletic field that biological and physical differences
CLASSIFIEDS CROSSWORD PUZZLE
between women and men justify an unfair system. Society tends to compare men’s and women’s teams and rank them by putting even mediocre men above high-performing women in the same sport. Cheryl Cooky, a professor of interdisciplinary studies at Purdue University, discovered media coverage of female athletes on TV news and sports highlights shows totaled only 5.4% of all airtime. Sports media creates a feedback loop, catering to audiences who are only interested in watching men’s soccer, not allowing audiences to develop an
SUDOKU PUZZLE Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains every digit from 1 to 9 inclusively.
interest in women’s soccer because only men’s soccer is available. Allowing female athletes to obtain equal pay is a way to emancipate them from this loop. Equal pay for female athletes means finally accepting that while physically different, male and female athletes’ work holds equal value. I’m waiting for a domino effect in the sports sphere, because the U.S. women’s soccer team’s legal victory will finally be a real triumph when it becomes the norm, not the exception.
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JOKIN’ AROUND “What was Spider-Man’s major in college?”
“Web Design!”
SOLUTIONS
ACROSS 1. Secret meeting 6. A sloping mass of loose rocks 11. Leaky 12. Booty 15. Jogger 16. Genus of canola 17. Half of a pair 18. Pretty (slang) 20. Travel through the air 21. Complain whiningly 23. Charged particles 24. Partiality 25. Nanny 26. Smudge 27. Central points 28. Easter flower 29. Abet 30. King 31. A sedimentary rock 34. Sharpshoot 36. Little bit 37. Tussock 41. Agreeable 42. Not aft 43. A D-Day beach 44. Plenty 45. Fasten 46. Anagram of “Ties” 47. Arrive (abbrev.)
48. Affluent 51. Mistake 52. Standards 54. Term of endearment 56. Demesnes 57. Master of ceremonies 58. Put forth, as effort 59. Requires DOWN 1. Killer wave 2. Restoration 3. Hankering 4. Hurried 5. Apprentice 6. Dash 7. Elegance 8. Hurry 9. N N N N 10. Building 13. Cream-filled pastry 14. Beams 15. Imperial 16. Heliotropes 19. Fat 22. The science of matter and energy 24. A genus of fungus 26. Rational 27. Merriment 30. Was a passenger 32. Simian
33. Late 34. Breathes noisily during sleep 35. Nitrify 38. Spoke 39. Sprites 40. Not here 42. Most satisfactory 44. Disabled 45. Driller 48. Speechless 49. Biblical garden 50. A Greek territorial unit 53. A single-reed woodwind 55. Card with one symbol
March 8
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2022
JENNIFER’S REEL REACTIONS
Hulu series humanizes con-artist By Jennifer Schildge STAFF WRITER
Nowadays, you either die a hero or you live long enough to see your life get turned into a miniseries. Hulu miniseries “The Dropout,” released Thursday, gives audiences a look into how Stanford drop-out Elizabeth Holmes became the most unhinged girl boss con-artist. Holmes was found guilty on Jan. 4 for defrauding investors out of millions of dollars while trying to develop new healthcare technology. The court proceedings, which began September 2021 at a federal courthouse in San Jose, captivated the nation. She founded Theranos in 2003 when she was 19-years-old, with the promise of a new technology that could scan for hundreds of diseases with just the prick of a finger. The company, which was based in Palo Alto, was once worth around $10 billion but is now worthless. Holmes is the Jordan Belfort of women and scientists. Belfort is an American entrepreneur, manipulation, according to a June 2020 article former stockbroker and convicted felon from financial publication Investopedia. who was found guilty of fraud and related Hulu’s miniseries is the first retelling of crimes in connection with stock market Theranos’ rise and fall. Holmes is played by Amanda Seyfried, known for her roles in movies “Mean Girls” and “Jennifer’s Body.” show “The Dropout” is based on a podcast by review host Rebecca Jarvis and ABC News producers Taylor Dunn and Victoria Thompson. “The Dropout” Only the first three of the seven episodes have been released so far. The beginning of Rating: the series is supposed to captivate audiences with the story of Holmes and keep audiences watching every week, but the story is just not Created by: made for TV. Elizabeth Meriwether How dramatic can Hulu make this? Not Starring: enough, the show is boring. While it was Amanda Seyfried, interesting to watch one woman’s gamble Naveen Andrews into the business world, I could have gained Genre: just as much information about her meteoric Drama rise and eventual downfall from an hour-long YouTube video. In the series, Holmes compares herself to co-founder of Microsoft Bill Gates
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ILLUSTRATION BY HANNAH GREGORIC
and former Apple CEO Steve Jobs because they also dropped out of college and changed history. Gates and Jobs changed lives by entering the technology industry where failing is not as risky. I’m no scientist but I think in Holmes’ case, a college degree was a bit more necessary when messing with healthcare. The series depicted Holmes as an amazing saleswoman who could talk her way out of anything, but the show was not interesting enough. She committed fraud and didn’t tell anyone that her devices were faulty – big deal. How did they make the story more interesting for a miniseries? Amanda Seyfried. Seyfried is amazing as Holmes because she is able to imitate her deep voice, though it sounds as though she has a pool noodle lodged in her throat. She said in a March 2 interview with the New York Times that she had to “pull out the human” in Holmes. In Seyfried’s performance, she understood how Holmes is totally unhinged and was able
to separate the humanity within the criminal. Since I’m familiar with Holmes’ case and its verdict, I’m interested to see how the show unfolds. Instead of watching the series with my eyes glued to the screen, I might do some homework with the show playing as background noise. Taking all of the facts and television dramatizations into consideration, I’d give the show three out of five stars. I’m sure I’ll have the same biopic complaints, including how the show could have been at least two or three episodes shorter, but the intriguing subject matter will keep me watching. “The Dropout” releases every Wednesday on Hulu.
Follow Jennifer on Twitter @kyiojen