Wednesday, 8.21.2019
Volume 153 No. 1 SERVING SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934
WWW.SJSUNEWS.COM/SPARTAN_DAILY
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ILLUSTRATION BY CINDY CUEL
e lcome to San Jose State, a university with a rich history of diversity and action. While walking on campus you’ll pass SJSU alumni, Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their fists in protest and the monument recognizing César Chávez. Across the street you’ll grab an early morning coffee from Philz or a late night hot chocolate. Every student comes from a different background — SJSU, for some, might have been your first choice or a backup school for others. You might already know exactly what
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field you want to work in or need to switch majors a few times to get it right. At one point or another, we will all struggle to get some classwork done, balance a job, or simply get enough sleep. Hopefully you’ll make new friends, have a good time and learn a few things throughout your time at SJSU. In the next few pages, the Spartan Daily has compiled tips from fellow students, restaurant suggestions for a quick bite and introductions to some new faces on campus. Welcome to your new home.
“What do you wish you knew the first day of school?” Page 3 Looking for a bite to eat off campus? Page 4 New faces in SJSU administration Page 6
SJSU president denounces ‘racist’ fliers By Chelsea Nguyen Fleige NEWS EDITOR
San Jose State police removed dozens of fliers with white supremacist and nationalist messages posted on campus last week. According to Chief Diversity Officer Kathleen Wong(Lau), University police took the fliers down for violation of time, place and manner policy. The policy outlines when, where and how people can post
papers on campus. SJSU President Mary Papazian sent a campuswide email denouncing the message more than a week later, after UPD finished investigating the incident. “Our community will not tolerate bigotry, hatred, discrimination and other forms of social violence against individuals or groups on the basis of their race, ethnicity, immigrant status, religion or other identities,” President Papazian wrote.
“We are always going to speak against bigotry,” Wong(Lau) said. “That’s part of who we are.” Associated Students Director of Intercultural Affairs Mira Mustafa said she would have liked to see Papazian talk about ways to act against hate speech in the email. UPD suspects the fliers were put up during the night between Aug. 11 and 12 as they were found early in the morning, Wong(Lau) said.
UPD removed the fliers. Some of the fliers contained the name of a white nationalist group, Wong Lau said. Other California and out-of-state universities found fliers with the name of the group as well. Mustafa said university policy surrounding hate speech should be more stringent and watchful. “It’s frightening to feel like you’re not welcome at your own school, in your own community and city,” Mustafa
said. “But I also think that it reminds people that there is strength in numbers and they should reach out to others around them to combat these issues.” SJSU administration will continue to investigate the group only for its violation of the posting policy, and not as a hate speech violation, Wong(Lau) said. She explained if UPD had determined the fliers to be a hate crime, the response from the university
would be different. SJSU will “step up to the plate” to design spaces to have a dialogue about hate speech and the freedom of speech, Wong(Lau) said. During their investigation, UPD determined that no threat was made against the community, Wong(Lau) said, and no direct physical threats are anticipated. Follow Spartan Daily on Twitter @SpartanDaily
Student Homeless Alliance and city discuss relief plans By Mauricio La Plante NEWS EDITOR
After months of promises and protests, plans between San Jose State administrators and local lawmakers to alleviate student homelessness are on the verge of fruition. Both San Jose lawmakers and school representatives say they have met to discuss potential collaboration and will announce their plans later in the Fall. The Student Homeless Alliance (SHA), which has demonstrated at SJSU several times, investigated the possibility of outside support and spoke to state and city lawmakers about finding relief for the unsheltered. “We’ve been trying to figure out the best way to find solutions and how we go about and find people we need to sit down at the table,” former SHA president Mayra Bernabe said.
We’ve been trying to figure out the best way to find soultions and how we go about and find people we need to sit down at the table. Mayra Bernabe Former SHA president
Bernabe and several other members of SHA met with local leaders throughout the summer, including San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo. During his budget message in March, Liccardo expressed a desire to help homeless students of SJSU.
However, the tax Liccardo proposed does not guarantee that money will land straight in the hands of homeless students. “There’s a delicate dance we have to do here,” Liccardo said. He explained that support from the city would not be immediate and allocating funds would have to be approved through a City Council resolution to designate the money to homeless students. “We may be passing a council resolution saying, ‘This is how we’d like to spend the money, but that would be non-binding,’ ” Liccardo said. “So there’s going to need to be probably some level of trust here within all of us, among coalition partners.” The funding Liccardo proposed is what he calls a “general tax,” which cannot be HOUSING | Page 3
MAURICIO LA PLANTE | SPARTAN DAILY
Mayor Sam Liccardo and councilmember Dev Davis volunteer on a housing project with Habitat for Humanity Saturday.