NAMED BEST CAMPUS NEWSPAPER IN CALIFORNIA FOR 2022 BY THE CALIFORNIA COLLEGE MEDIA ASSOCIATION
Tuesday, May 2, 2023
Volume 160 No. 38 SERVING SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934
WWW.SJSUNEWS.COM/SPARTAN_DAILY
Union rallies for workers’ rights By Christine Tran STAFF WRITER
Labor unions are assembling across all California State University campuses for higher living wages and workload decreases, among other demands. California State University Employees Union held a rally at San Jose State on Monday to commemorate Workers’ Day or International Workers’ Day. The rally also served as a way for SJSU’s labor union to prepare their members to be strike ready in the future. Members of the rally met at the Business Tower and marched together to Smith Carlos Lawn while chanting their demands from SJSU and the CSU as a whole. Sarah Schraeder, vice president and chief steward for the CSUEU, said the association represents about 935 staff members on SJSU’s campus. “We believe the CSU can’t run without the staff,” Schraeder said. “We’re the ones that do CHRISTINE TRAN | SPARTAN DAILY
RALLY | Page 2
SJSU staff walk from the Boccardo Business Center to the Olympic Black Power Statue to commemorate Workers’ Day on Monday.
Transportation experts discuss human trafficking Mineta Transportation Institute holds anti human trafficking webinar By Rainier de Fort-Menares BRANDON NICOLAS | SPARTAN DAILY
SJSU alum Roy Hirabayashi shares stories from his time serving as the Asian American studies program director from ‘77 to ‘79 at an alumni reunion in the Student Union on Friday.
AAPI alumni gather for SJSU reunion By Brandon Nicolas STAFF WRITER
The Asian American Studies Founders Alumni Reunion took place last Friday evening in the Student Union to celebrate the history of Asian American studies, ethnic studies and the importance of the Asian American activists at San Jose State. At the 7th Street Paseo Student Union entrance, the SJSU Lion Dancers performed for the returning alumni, faculty and staff as they mingled with familiar faces and old classmates. To jump-start the reunion, assistant professor of Asian American studies Yvonne Kwan and Bay Area reporter Robert Handa, welcomed returning alumni to the event as they reminisced with familiar faces. Alumna PJ Hirabayashi was the Asian American Studies Program Coordinator during ’77 to ’79, attended alongside her brother, alumnus Roy Hirabayashi, who performed a musical number with taikos, a Japanese percussion instrument.
“Today you will hear a collection of stories that will put a face to a movement that has changed, and continues to change, our national narrative,” said alumna Victoria Taketa. “One that will resonate with another who reads our story from a book.” Taketa introduced Handa to speak about his time at SJSU. “The student movement started happening, and I wanted to make sure that everything that we did in progress on this campus – we would not forget our responsibilities to the Asian American community,” he said. Gesturing toward the tables of alumni, Handa said he recalls not seeing a face that looked like his on television. During her time at SJSU, she said she was working on an urban planning thesis for San Jose’s Japantown involving its past and potential future. “I was immersed in community work in Japantown and the development of San Jose Taiko, to find our voice and a cultural REUNION | Page 2
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
For the 2023 Caltrans Safety Awareness Week, the Mineta Transportation Institute hosted a webinar on Thursday aiming to bring awareness to efforts from transit organizations to combat human trafficking in the United States Human trafficking is the fastest growing organized crime that involves the recruitment, transport or transfer of people using force, fraud or coercion to exploit them for acts of labor, services or sex, according to a U.S. Department of Justice webpage. The webinar included five panelists who are professionals in the transportation field. Human trafficking relies on transportation to move and recruit victims, making the transportation industry integral in preventing human trafficking. Aston Greene, chief of system safety and security for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, said empowering transit users is crucial in increasing safety in transportation. “We’ve all heard of the ‘See something, say something’ campaign, which I think is very important just to increase the awareness of your environment
while you’re on our transit,” Greene said. “But there is another thing that should happen right. It’s, ‘See something, say something,’ how about do something.” Polly Hanson is the senior director of security, risk and emergency management at American Public Transportation Association and the former chief of police for Amtrak. She said while she was working at Amtrak, she saw how effective human trafficking awareness training could be for staff. “We know that wherever transit goes, communities grow and it’s only fitting then that your employees would want to help individuals be free from human trafficking in their communities,” Hanson said. Kezban Yagci Sokat, San Jose State assistant professor of business analytics and research associate at the Mineta Transportation Institute, was one of the expert panelists for the webinar. “The most important thing a regular citizen can do is . . . awareness, education, training,” Yagci Sokat said. “That was the most important thing.” Greene said VTAlerts is an app that riders can use to support any observation of suspicious activity. The mobile app lets users write a short description of something they see, which is then sent to security and law enforcement. “So [the VTA] armed the public with an ability to see something and do something immediately that could address what could be some threatening behaviors,” he said. TRANSPORTATION | Page 2