NAMED BEST CAMPUS NEWSPAPER IN CALIFORNIA FOR 2022 BY THE CALIFORNIA COLLEGE MEDIA ASSOCIATION AND CALIFORNIA NEWS PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
Thursday, May 11, 2023
Volume 160 No. 43 WWW.SJSUNEWS.COM/SPARTAN_DAILY
SERVING SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934
Students talk concerns with admin
GRAPHIC VIA CANVA
Various student organizations which represent different marginalized communities speak about their experiences with the president and administration of San Jose State. By Bojana Cvijic ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Editor’s note: University officials were not able to respond to requests for comment in time for publication, the story will be updated online as soon as they can respond. Multiple students from different student organizations representing different marginalized communities at San Jose State say they feel President Cynthia Teniente-Matson and the administration are not doing enough to help represent groups on campus. As much as 82.3% of SJSU’s student population is made up of people from marginalized groups, according to Fall 2022 data from the university. President Teniente-Matson completed her first 100 days in office on April 25, meeting with various campus community members and leaders during this time, according to the SJSU Office of The President webpage. Carmina Bosmenier, liberal studies teacher-prep senior and descendant of the Yaqui peoples, an Indigenous group from Southern Sonora, Mexico, who migrated to modern day Southern Arizona, said she met with the president prior to spring break in March at Clark Hall to share her requests for Native students on campus for the future at SJSU. “We met with the President and basically we told her that if we don’t see a change or if the university doesn’t respond, then as students we will respond,” Bosmenier alleged. “That could mean a lot of different things. It could mean protesting, it could mean weeks of action like posting fliers . . . But after that comment, she was like, ‘Is that a threat? Are you, Are you threatening me?’ ” The president’s office was not able to respond in time for publication. Bosmenier said she believes the university has not done enough to advocate for the progress of Native students on campus with no relationships being built with the community. “There is no relationship with the tribes that are the first people to have here in San Jose. So to us it wasn’t a threat. It was simply just as relisting and demanding that we have some sort of support on campus and visible support. So we want visibility basically,” Bosmenier said. According to students, the president’s office is allegedly not the only part of the university Native students have run into issues with. Former Associated Students (A.S.) director Magnus Herrlin, who resigned from the board on March 30, which A.S. approved on April 12, has made remarks about Native students and the resources for which they’ve been asking. According to documents obtained by the Spartan Daily, Herrlin’s resignation was because of alleged misconduct on
the board and comments made about the Native community, undocumented students and South, West Asian and North African students, or SWANA, students. According to the same documents, comments Herrlin allegedly made about Native students during A.S. meetings included accusing Native and other students of “playing identity politics.” Identity politics refers to the discussion of and politicking around issues pertaining to one’s identity, according to an Aug. 17, 2017 Vox News article. When students advocated for a center on campus this semester, he allegedly argued that including Indigenous/ Native students and their communities was divisive and was excluding other students of color, according to documents obtained by the Spartan Daily. Herrlin also allegedly stated that A.S. cannot support one “small” portion of the student body and ignore the majority, according to the same documents. Herrlin did not respond for comment. The new Native American and Indigenous Studies Success Center, which will be located in the Spartan Memorial Chapel, is expected to have its grand opening in Fall 2023, according to an April 20 Spartan Daily article. An anonymous student, who wished to not be identified because of privacy concerns, said they believe the president and administration has been careless in its support for the SWANA community. The student, who is a part of SJSU’s SWANA project, said they believe asking for resources in creating more visibility for the SWANA project, which includes a center and other actions including email blasts to the campus community, has gone unheard. The SWANA project says it aims to recognize, support and hold a space for our South, West Asian, and North African population here at SJSU, according to its Instagram account webpage. “Essentially what the President said was that we can’t represent every minority that doesn’t feel like they’re represented,” the student alleged. The student also said they felt as though they were pitted against the Native community in order to advocate for a space for Muslim students on campus. “When the [Native community] got their center, we [the Muslim community] can’t argue against that because they deserve that, they needed it,” they said. “So if you try to CONCERNS | Page 2