Issuu

Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019

Volume 153 No. 4 WWW.SJSUNEWS.COM/SPARTAN_DAILY

SERVING SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934

Parking woes steer SJSU to change lanes Page 4: What’s the craziest thing you’ve had to do for parking? Page 5: SJSU introduces virtual parking permits and license plate readers Page 6: Editorial: Reduce data collection Page 8: Parking lots are bumper to bumper

How long did you spend looking for a parking spot? 10th Street Garage

Park and Ride Lot

Parking Number Time (min) of Students 60% <10 18% 11-20 21-30 12% 31-40 10%

Parking Number Time (min) of Students <20 6% 30-40 32% 50-60 34% 60+ 28%

ed ey v r su s t en d stu

0 10

ed ey v ur ss t n de u st

REPORTING BY MELISSA MARIA MARTINEZ AND DIANA AVILA

A.S. tackles funding and tampons By Christian Trujano

individual students up to $750 to attend conferences or professional Associated Students development events. instituted a new The meeting also requirement to apply consisted of planning for student organization and scheduling for the funding and proposed distributing free feminine hy g i e n e pro du c t s in women’s campus bathrooms, during their first meeting, Wednesday. A.S. board members decided student organizations recognized by San Jose State will have to undergo mandatory training sessions in order to apply for funding from student service fees. Controller Jyotsna Kethepalli said this Zachary Birrer Associated Students is to make sure the Vice President organizations understand the main points of the funding applications. upcoming school year and “Recognized student the roles the associated organizations can receive student body will have up to $2,700 from the to play with budget Associated Student deliberations and funding. budget,” Kethepalli said. Vice President Zachary Training includes Birrer said despite the a walkthrough of the learning curves and process for requesting mistakes of not knowing and receiving funds. how voting works, they It also goes over the are necessary in order to documentation they fully adjust to a position. would have to provide. “It’s using the money She also said this new that we have logically to change for the 2019-2020 best benefit the students,” school year budget policy Birrer said. “I wouldn’t would also make students say I’m nervous though.” more aware of the funding Birrer said he is excited they could receive to work on the budget from A.S. available to the A.S. with “It’s a great way his fellow directors who for students to fully want to make a change in experience San Jose State student life. and its opportunities,” Director of Legislative Kethepalli said. Affairs, Zobeida Along with funding Delgadillo announced student organizations, Kethepalli said A.S. PROPOSITIONS | Page 2 will also begin funding STAFF WRITER

It’s using the money that we have logically to best benefit the students. I wouldn’t say I’m nervous though.

SJSU aviation program braces for airport defunding By Brendan Cross STAFF WRITER

The potential closure of a local airport may strip over 250 San Jose State students of a location to learn aviation. Last week the San Jose City Council discussed the issue at their weekly meeting, following up on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors decision to no longer take federal grant money to maintain it. During a board meeting last year, people who live near the Reid-Hillview Airport complained of noise, lead exposure in the air via the airplane’s fuel and their general

safety hazards. Councilmember Magdalena Carrasco discussed how she thinks the land the airport is on could be used, according to a transcript of the meeting. “If there’s a best use and it results in housing or economic development...I have to consider that,” she said. This is not the first time that the potential closure of the airport has brought turbulence to the aviation program. “This conversation has been taking place for the past 30 years,” said Chair of the SJSU aviation program, Freidoon Barez. “From time to time,

BRENDAN CROSS | SPARTAN DAILY

The San Jose State aviation facility is located at Reid-Hillview Airport. The program may relocate to the San Martin Airport.

This conversation has been taking place for the past 30 years. From time to time, there’s an interest to close the airport and luckily we have survived all this turmoil. Freidoon Barez Chair of SJSU aviation program

there’s an interest to close the airport and luckily we have survived all this turmoil.” The facility provides students with a handson aviation learning experience. Barez said he believes there is more to gain from keeping the airport

open, rather than shutting it down. If nothing else, Reid-Hillview serves as a relief airport for Norman Y. Mineta International Airport or could be used for emergency housing in the event of a major disaster. At the board of super visors meeting,

nearby residents argued housing and businesses could take the space. Barez said he is willing to work with the airport and the community to try and quell some of the concerns. “If there is a possibility of lead, I am going to spearhead that myself and

try to get some folks to do some testing,” he said. “I am also going to start a noise abatement study to determine how much noise the airplanes are creating.” DEFUNDING | Page 2

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NEWS

THURSDAY, AUG. 29, 2019

BRENDAN CROSS | SPARTAN DAILY

Planes are allocated for student use by the San Jose State aviation facility.

DEFUNDING Continued from page 1 Council members at the board meeting also proposed that the SJSU aviation program could transfer operations to the San Martin Airport. Although Barez said he does not believe it is feasible. “San Martin only has one runway, it does not have the proper tower and it does not have the infrastructure to be able to accomodate the proper training,” he said. Aviation junior Eric Alog said he was not shocked by the news of the proposed closure. Alog said closures have happened with other general aviation airports

in major cities, such as Meigs Field Airport in Chicago that shut down in 2003 and Santa Monica Airport which will close in 2028. “For some reason, despite whatever economic benefits airports provide, the general public just does not seem to like airports,” Alog said. “Factions that strongly desire airports to be closed are making it happen.” If the aviation program is forced to pack its bags and head to a different airport, Alog hopes that the program would be able to plant its roots at a new location and create a fully-fledged facility. “In an ideal world, I envision there being

adequate office and hangar space that aviation could use to create a bona fide satellite campus on whatever airport they are forced to move to,” said Alog. Aviation professor Carlo Espinosa hopes that the school and the board of supervisors maintain communication. “What I would like to see is an open dialogue with the city council for them to understand the impact of closing the airport,” Espinosa said. “If the airport were to close, it would end up basically killing our program.”

Follow Brendan on Twitter @BrendanCross93

PROPOSITIONS Continued from page 1

her plan to implement free feminine products in women’s bathrooms. While attending a statewide non-profit student organization, CSUnity, Delgadillo noticed other campuses like Sonoma State and California State University Monterey Bay offer amenities like free tampons in the restrooms. “Usually when you go inside a female’s bathroom, it’s like 25 cents to get a tampon or whatever it might be, but at their campus, they were free,” said Delgadillo. She said this is something she wants to implement at SJSU along with other products that might be available in bathrooms. “When I went inside the bathrooms at [CSU] Monterey Bay, they had mini toothpaste, toothbrushes and stuff

CHRISTIAN TRUJANO | SPARTAN DAILY

The Associated Students Board of Directors prepare for the commencement of the first board meeting.

like that,” Delgadillo said. Delgadillo explained how these amenities are funded by each respective ass o ciated student government. Delgadillo said, “that’s something that as a board we thought maybe we could bring here to SJSU.” A.S. receives funding from mandatory student activity fees collected from each matriculated student, along with

ancillary revenues from fee for service and programs, contributed income and federal, state and local grants. According to Delgadillo, other campuses are funding the products at no cost to students and are also interested in seeking funding outside of student fees. Follow Christian on Twitter @ChristianTruja2

Correction On Wednesday Aug. 28, the Spartan Daily published an article titled “Football team seeks winning culture” in which Tyler Nevens was misidentified.

ABOUT

EDITORIAL STAFF

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.

EXECUTIVE EDITOR KUNAL MEHTA

The Spartan Daily is written and published by San Jose State students as an expression of their First Amendment rights. Reader feedback may be submitted as letters to the editor or online comments.

MANAGING EDITOR VICTORIA FRANCO EXECUTIVE PRODUCER EDUARDO TEIXEIRA

SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR VICENTE VERA COPY EDITORS JAILEANE AGUILAR ALYSON CHUYANG MYLA LA BINE JOZY PRABHU

NEWS EDITORS MAURICIO LA PLANTE CHELSEA NGUYEN FLEIGE

SPORTS COPY EDITOR C.J. PETERSON

A&E EDITOR COURTNEY VASQUEZ

GRAPHICS EDITORS CINDY CUELLAR MELODY DEL RIO

OPINION EDITOR JONATHAN AUSTIN SPORTS EDITOR CORA WILSON PHOTO EDITOR JESUS TELLITUD

ONLINE EDITOR MARCI SUELA SENIOR STAFF WRITERS ROMAN CONTRERAS KELSEY VALLE

INFORMATION FROM SINGLES IN AMERICA

INFOGRAPHIC BY ERICA LIZARRAGO

Spartan romance looks to long-term intimacy By Erica Lizarrago STAFF WRITER

Love is still in the air in San Jose. The city of San Jose ranks fourth nationally for young singles looking for long term relationships and the number one city within the Bay Area, according to a recent study done by Singles in America (SIA) that was sponsored by Match.com. For many San Jose State students, the search for committed love can create a complicated personal dilemma. According to SIA, 70% of Generation Z and 63% of Millennials are motivated to find a companion, a demographic that dominates our own campus. Some students claim that people search for partners based on social media expectations. “We have very high expectations on love and relationships in general, because of what we see on social media out of a photo or bio,” said sociology senior Mariela Palomo. “We get our hopes very high.” Palomo says many students in our generation feel inclined to only post highlights of their relationships, even if there’s more lows within their love. This perpetuates a social pressure among students. But experts say that there is more ease finding love online among younger generations. Amy Leisenring, professor of sociology at SJSU says in previous generations, finding love online was often

STAFF WRITERS DIANA AVILA JOHN BRICKER CHRIS CORE BRENDAN CROSS NATHAN DOYLE ALEX GALLAND ERICA LIZARRAGO MELISSA MARTINEZ BLUE NGUYEN SERENA SIMOES CHRISTIAN TRUJANO OLIVIA WRAY

stigmatized. Now, the stigma has been lifted and many people are finding long term companions online. “It probably opens up connections,” Leisenring said. “You can use an app and meet other college students around the area who have the same interests. It actually gives people more access to meet others.” However, SIA found only 42% of singles use dating apps. Palomo said her love life is different than other students because she entered SJSU in a relationship from high school, one that still continues today into her final year.

There’s a very big college culture of hooking up, I feel that’s a big facade. Mariela Palomo Sociology senior

“It wasn’t easy in terms of growth and development you go through in college,” Palomo said. “It’s very different from the experience of my partner. So having to combine these two high school mentalities into a miniadult lifestyle was very challenging at first.” Palomo, whose partner didn’t take the college route, said empathy and communication were the biggest skills in maintaining her relationship. “There’s a very big college culture of hooking up, I feel that’s a big facade. Realistically what I’ve noticed, is [students] want something more,”

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Palomo said. But with education and financial stability being the main goals for many students, some view finding a relationship as a burden toward those goals. “Research confirms people are delaying marriage or deciding not to get married at all,” said Leisenring. Stats from the U.S Census Bureau in 2018 finds the average age of marriage is 29 years old, with the median age seeing a steady rise since 1950, and it isn’t expected to slow. Students like Palomo weigh out how to focus on themselves, before thinking long-term about marriage. “Being financially stable is such a high priority for every college student,’’ said communications junior Brendan Quock. “Working hard to be stable affects our ability to think about love.” Quock recalls how they began as good friends and gradually got closer, shared intimate moments and decided to date. Students like Palomo and Quock say that regardless of the barriers on love, their ability to see the gray area between friendship and romance has allowed them to maintain healthy relationships. “It’s the start to our adult lives and when people realize that, they think about how much a life long companion is one of the important aspects,” Quock said. Palomo and Quock are just two of the many students who’ve been able to find love during college. They show that companionship can actually elevate our time in college, despite what some think. Follow Erica on Twitter @erica.lizarrago

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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.

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SPORTS

THURSDAY, AUG. 29, 2019

Club hockey team gets back onto ice By Chris Core STAFF WRITER

Even though it’s summer, the first club sport that started practicing is the coldest one on campus. The San Jose State Club Hockey team is set to begin the 2019-2020 season with the hopes of taking home the title at nationals. Last season, the team finished with an 11-13-1 record, having lost its coach during the middle of the season. Players like freshman goalie Reese Busch are excited to get the season underway even though starting spots are not yet locked down. “I just want to get out there,” Busch said. “It’s my first year and I don’t expect to be starting right away.” Although the team has nationals in its sights, coach Mike Jahnda said his personal goal for his first full season focuses more on building as a team. “My goal is to get better everyday and trust the process and see where we are at the end of the process,” Jahnda said. Jahnda has a myriad of hockey achievements on his resume, ranging from playing two years in the United States Hockey League for the Chicago Steel to making the Frozen Four while playing for Rochester University of Technology in

New York. Taking over as head coach midseason last November, Jahnda looks to build on the team’s progress with him at the reins. Transitioning head coaches midseason could be detrimental for a team, but Jahnda said the team handled the change well. “It was a little bit of a learning curve for them,” Jahnda said.“With a change of style and play, but the transition was easy.” Now fully in control, Jahnda hopes to fully integrate himself into the team rolling into the first week of matchups. “We had some success last year,” Jahnda said. “[Near] Christmas we lost our top two players, our leading scorer and starting goalie, which hurt us in the second half, but I was really excited with practice today.” Injuries are still a major concern for Jahnda coming into this season with little players to fall back on if things go awry. “We got a good amount of guys, but we are one injury or two away from not having a full team and its scary,” Jahnda said. The team fears that it’ll be unable to compete if they lose any players since it is currently at the minimum roster limit. With limited players

CHRIS CORE | SPARTAN DAILY

Senior James Mayo (center) takes a shot on goal at goalie practice on Aug. 26th. SJSU looks to break its 1-1 record against the Arizona State University Sun Devils in their upcoming matchup on Sep. 20 in Tempe, Ariz.

backing him, junior forward Max Miller said that he hopes to not only improve as a player in his first season, but also see the team grow as the season progresses. “You can never stop improving and as a team, we can improve too,” Miller said. The hockey team’s biggest goal is to win games and improve, but being a club sport, the players understand that it is more than just wins and losses. Busch has looked at the experience as more than just a game and

CLASSIFIEDS CROSSWORD PUZZLE

We are hard workers. A lot of the guys on the team work jobs and go to school. Everyone puts in the effort. Reese Busch Freshman goalie

appreciates the bonds that the players have made competing on the team so far. “It’s a great community to be around,” Busch said. “I’ve never really experienced that with a team.” The season starts on

Sept. 20, when the team will face the Arizona State Sun Devils in Tempe, Ariz. “We have a really great schedule this year,” Jahnda said. “here’s a lot of cool and good matchups and schools that we don’t

SUDOKU PUZZLE Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains every digit from 1 to 9 inclusively.

see very often.” The first game could be a big one with a lot of new players on the ice waiting for a chance to show what they can do. “We are hard workers,” Busch said. “A lot of the guys on the team work jobs and go to school. Everyone puts in the effort.” The team will play against the Texas Aggies on Sept. 27 at Sharks Ice for their first home game of the season. Follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisCore24

JOKIN’ AROUND How did the hipster burn his mouth?

He ate the pizza before it was cool.

SOLUTIONS

ACROSS 1. Ocean predator 6. Concludes 10. Constellation bear 14. Sprite 15. Swimming hole 16. Catches 17. Decree 18. Puncture 19. East Indian tree 20. Luscious 22. Dines 23. Derisive laugh 24. Curbs (British spelling) 26. Smear 30. Caskets 32. Take forcibly 33. Superstar 37. Annoying insect 38. Flora 39. Seaweed 40. Subversive 42. Drive 43. Temporary lodgings 44. Bent 45. Chopin composition 47. Consumed food 48. Lass

49. An open letter 56. Bright thought 57. Journey 58. Analyze syntactically 59. In order to prevent 60. Leer at 61. Delete 62. Backside 63. Auctioned 64. Lassoed DOWN 1. Hurried 2. Conceal 3. Angle of a leafstalk 4. Type of cereal grass 5. Tomato sauce 6. Ancient unit of dry measure 7. Newbie (slang) 8. A girl’s toy 9. Most streamlined 10. Downplay 11. Rehabilitation 12. Statistics 13. Questions 21. Bar bill 25. Historic period 26. Insects

27. Feudal worker 28. Group of two 29. Eloquent 30. Boyfriends 31. Hotels 33. Swill 34. Holly 35. Curved molding 36. An aromatic ointment 38. Sweet red peppers 41. Little bit 42. Roomette 44. Faster than light 45. Duck down 46. Amount of hair 47. Requested 48. Arizona river 50. Therefore 51. Water source 52. Tropical tuber 53. Snare 54. Existence 55. Anagram of “Deer”

08/28/2019

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PARKING

THURSDAY, AUG. 29, 2019

Virtual parking permits

Campus Voices What is the craziest thing you have had to do for parking?

SJSU switches to paperless system for increased efficiency

I looked two hours for parking, went home and asked my dad, “Can you please drop me off ?”

Just check your maps before leaving.

Chau Doan Computer engineer Junior

Daniel Marchana Biomedical engineering Freshman

I have had to come an hour early.

PHOTO B

Y VICENTE

VERA

Linda Borja Hospitality management Sophomore By Vicente Vera SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR

I had to give a person a ride to their car to get their parking spot.

I have had to wake up at five in the morning and my class started at nine.

I have had to park on the street.

Rosalina Gutierrez Marketing Graduate Student

Shadaye Hernandez Spacial art Junior

Katie Gomez Communications Junior

San Jose State parking enforcement officers took an average of two hours to patrol an entire parking garage last semester. This was when drivers had to display paper permits and University Police Department officers had to walk up to the windshield of each vehicle to assess if the permit was valid. SJSU Parking Manager Eric Cross said, “This was a huge waste of time and energy for the officers.” He oversaw the installation of the university’s new virtual parking system. With automated license plate reading cameras mounted on their trucks, officers can read license plate numbers, verify they bought a permit in the online system, and ticket any plates not registered. “[Officers] can now get [one garage] done in probably about 45 minutes,” he said in regards to

I like that I can extend my parking on the meters if I put in my [phone] number. The machines are always out of order and there’s a lot of people during rush hour anyways. Klaudia Paradi Kinesiology graduate student

what the new system means for the parking validation process. But what does it mean for students? The university partnered with another mobile parking app, Park Mobile, to create a phone payment system to purchase temporary parking passes. Instead of having to wait in line to pay for parking on a parking meter, Cross said Park Mobile allows

students to pay on their phones. “Pay for your parking while you’re walking to class, you can pay for it sitting in class,” he said. “You order your food on it, you pay your bills on it, why not go ahead and get your parking on it.” After talking briefly in his office stashed within the South Garage, Cross walked outside toward the bottom floor of the garage where many of the parking enforcement

vehicles were parked. He pointed out four identical looking trucks and said, “These four cars have the parking verification cameras.” The trucks have what looks like two small security cameras mounted on the roof, facing opposite of each other. Cross explained how the cameras were used to verify a car is permitted to park in SJSU facilities. “The camera goes by and drives through the garages and scans your license plate,” he said. “Everything is now done by your license plate.” Digital Payment Technologies, a subsidiary of T2 Systems, partnered with SJSU to develop the virtual system and implement License Plate Recognition software. Regarding the new software, Cross said that Digital Payment Technologies keeps license plate information in its system for six months. Kinesiology senior Toby Rosenblum said he never thought about the surveillance aspect of the new virtual parking system, but said he would feel more at ease about the university keeping his data if there was more transparency. “I want to know who exactly would have access to my information,” he said. “Then I’d warm up to the idea of having my license plate in their system.” Cross said UPD is not allowed to share information with federal agencies and no information could be shared with local law enforcement without the approval of the police chief. “That information is not going to be disseminated to anyone, it’s not going to be shared with anyone,” he said. “The university has an agreement where we’re not going to be embedded in any

of those activities.” Parking violations would be easier to dispute because the new system keeps digital records, said Cross. Officers save more time because of reduced patrolling and students no longer have to attend to a ticket dispenser for daily permits. Parking enforcement officials also created a system for students to extend their parking time by sending a text message. All students have to do is text the time amount they need to extend their permit to the number listed for parking services. “I like that I can extend my parking on the meters if I put in my [phone] number,” kinesiology graduate student Klaudia Paradi said. “The machines are always out of order and there’s a lot of people during rush hour anyways.” Cross also mentioned an additional mobile transit app, Double Map, would notify students and faculty of the approximate arrival time for the Park and Ride Lot shuttles. The university plans to explain all of the new technology being introduced this semester during an information day where retailers of these products will be invited onto the campus to talk with students, Cross said. He did not give a specific date. Business administration freshman Danielle Rivas said she does not use the new permit system for parking since she already has her semester permit. “But I can see how it’s helpful because you don’t have to use anything other than your phone,” she said. Follow Vicente on Twitter @VicenteSJSU

REPORTING BY MELISSA MARIA MARTINEZ

The Airbnb of parking, ParkStash returns to SJSU

- Third public university in California to utilize license plate readers - Retains data for six months

sjsu.edu/parking

By Nathan Doyle STAFF WRITER

After a surge in use, the founder and CEO of crowdsourcing app Parkstash announced spaces being leased near San Jose State sold out and the app received 2,000 new sign ups after the first week of classes. Described as the “Airbnb of parking” by ParkStash CEO Sameer Saran, the app allows property owners to lease spaces to drivers and crowdsources parking space availability for those trying to find a spot to leave their car. The app also tracks how many open spots are in each of SJSU parking garages. “On Wednesday, students went all the way up to 21st Street to park,” Saran says, which is nearly two miles off campus. For many students, even with the app it is difficult to find a parking space with more than 12,000 students commuting to SJSU. Civil engineering junior Edgar Sanchez said that despite the parking setbacks, he appreciates the convenience that Parkstash provides. “It doesn’t waste my time because I commute everyday,” Sanchez says, noting that even when spaces are all taken up he only finds himself parking 3-4 blocks away. Sanchez only has issues with the way the system runs sometimes. “When I press destination, it glitches,” he said. Dan Nguyen, a senior majoring in business management information systems, says that he is planning to get the app based off the convenience that will come with it.

Spartans

We partnered with Parkstash because they were able to get information to people. Charlie Faas Vice President Administraionand Finance

PHOTO COURTESY OF PARKSTASH

SJSU alumnus Sameer Saran, founder and CEO of ParkStash.

“I kind of want to know when it gets full, it would be useful to know,” Nguyen said when talking about trying to find an available parking space. SJSU Vice President of Administration and Finance, Charlie Faas, said the university’s partnership with Parkstash is most convenient for a commuter school. “We partnered with Parkstash because they were able to get information to people,” Faas said. When asked whether or not commuters will ever be able to reserve parking spaces within university parking through Parkstash, Faas says that parking will still remain reserved

for Parking Services. “Right now you can pay a fee to park [in the garage] and even then you are not guaranteed a spot.” Saran is a 2018 SJSU computer engineering alumnus, and he vividly remembered spending up to 30 minutes looking for a parking spot before going to class. The goal for the Parkstash CEO and his team is to create a more positive impact on the environment and to be able to work with more parking space owners. Saran says they have even begun working out ways to find parking near other universities including UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley. “We have restaurants and dry cleaner spots now,” Saran says about the new spots that have been made available to Parkstash users. After extending the contract with San Jose State into an ongoing one, Saran hopes that within the next year that Parkstash will have at least 200 parking spaces near campus. Follow Nathan on Instagram @nathan.doyle.doc

California - 187 law enforcement agencies in California use license plate readers - City of San Jose retains data for 12 months

dmv.ca.gov

America

- Only 16 states have active regulations regarding use of license plate readers -71% of US police officers use some form of license plate readers

dot.gov

Automated license plate reader usage

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OPINION

THURSDAY, AUG. 29, 2019

EDITORIAL

Get your hands off of student data By Editorial Board SPARTAN DAILY

Parking at San Jose State is a nightmare. While the university’s recent changes to the permit system were made with the best of intentions, they will be harmful in the long run. Any short-term benefit of convenience can’t compare to the damages caused by increased data collection. A quick recap: SJSU replaced physical parking passes with “virtual permits” that track students’ vehicles based on the license plate. Everything is digital now, leading to the introduction of automated license plate readers. SJSU Parking Services now drives through a parking garage, quickly checking the permit status of each car. From their perspective, it’s much faster than manually walking from car to car, looking at plastic stickers and paper receipts. At first, the benefits to students seem pretty nice. You can now pay for parking from your phone, or extend already purchased time with a text. But like most good things in this world, there’s always a catch. The university is now gathering significantly more data about students

than it was previously, and that’s the real problem – excessive data collection. Does the university need to track and record every license plate that it scans in the parking garages? No, but they are. Parking services told the Spartan Daily that data collected by automated license plate readers is deleted after six months. But that’s six months too long. If external law enforcement comes asking for data in that window, it’s up to the discretion of the University Police Department on whether or not to release the information. This isn’t an isolated incident, it’s part of a worrying pattern of overreach in data collection by the university in recent months. In May, the new Spartan Recreation and Aquatic Center opened and began asking students to scan their hands in order to enter the facility. Recreation center staff quickly clarified that the scanners were optional but multiple students have reported that they felt pressured by staff when registering to submit their hand. Much of the university’s data collection relies on students trusting it to be

EDITORIAL CARTOON BY CINDY CUELLAR

good stewards of their personal information. Unfortunately, SJSU has not shown itself to be able to succeed in this task. Back in June, the Spartan Daily reported that confidential student and faculty information leaked because of a misconfigured setting in Google Groups.

Google itself had warned organizations back in a June 2018 blog post that Google Groups was an avenue for data leaks but SJSU never heeded the warning. In a 2017 presentation, members of the SJSU Information Security Office stated, “Every incident which required reporting, credit

monitoring or other action at SJSU since 2013 could have been prevented by taking minor precautions.” The suggested minor precautions? Locking a computer screen or cabinets when you’re away. Not propping open doors or letting people “tailgate” into secure buildings.

These are basic things that every student learns on their first day of school. Don’t leave your car unlocked, your laptop unattended and definitely don’t let random people follow you into the dorms. In an ideal world, students wouldn’t have to worry about these kinds of issues. Students are already under attack from online trackers and countless other surveillance – SJSU should be a safe place that has our backs. It’s possible that some students will say they do not care about losing their privacy and that’s their right. But some changes, like the new automatic license plate readers don’t allow for that. Some students simply have to drive to school and they are now caught up in this dragnet data collection against their will. Implementing the automatic license plate readers has taken that right away from those students. For a university that aims to protect the rights of all students, regardless of their background, it’s imperative that San Jose State add the right to privacy to that list. Follow Spartan Daily on Twitter @SpartanDaily

PEOPLE-CENTERED POLITICS

Abortion care is healthcare Grace Pang LEGISLATIVE COLUMNIST

Our reproductive rights are being threatened nationally as anti-abortion legislation makes it through state legislatures in a push towards dismantling Roe v. Wade, now that the balance of the Supreme Court has shifted. I understand more than ever now, my own responsibility to fight for our constitutional rights during these contentious times. Certainly, California can and must be a leader in protecting access to abortion care. Even in a state without major abortion restrictions, we know that people, especially those who are minorities, low-income or historically marginalized, still face obstacles to accessing abortions. University students are among these vulnerable communities. No public school health center in our state currently provides abortion care. That means that once a student has decided to end a pregnancy, they are forced to go off-campus for care. According to a study performed by Advancing New Studies In Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), the average student has to travel more than two hours by public transportation to get to and from off-campus appointments. That means taking extra time away from school, work or students who are already a parent from caretaking.

This is an unnecessary barrier as our health centers already have the capacity to administer medication abortion. ABC Reports that San Jose State has the highest number of homeless students in the California State University system. For students who are already struggling to get by, the extra cost for transportation to abortion care is an even bigger obstacle. Being forced to go offcampus is not only a student health issue, it is a basic needs issue, an academic retention issue and it is ultimately an equity issue. But there is something we can do about this. The College Student Right to Access Act would require on-campus student health centers at all public California universities to provide medication abortion so that students can get the care they need without facing unnecessary obstacles. Medication abortion, or the abortion pill, is a safe and effective option for ending an early pregnancy by taking prescription medication. Our health center already offers other reproductive health care, including testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and birth control. We need to #BreaktheStigma as abortion care is health care. According to the same study by ANSIRH an estimated 322 to 519 students seek medication abortion each month in California, which

means the need is there and it’s real. I urge our university administrators and higher education leaders to step up to ensure abortion care access for our students. This means backing the bill publicly and sending a clear message that California public universities will support students’ right to choose. If passed, the College Student Right to Access Act phases the services into our student health centers by the year 2023 – after I will have graduated. My advocacy really stems from honoring the work of those who came before me and continuing to push the needle for those after me. I am part of this fight so that students down the line don’t have to be. A. S. represents our 35,000 Spartans as student government and they endorsed the bill. It’s also endorsed by the Cal State Student Association which represent half a million CSU students. A person’s right to choose shouldn’t just be a catchy slogan. Rather a true commitment to close accessibility gaps. This bill is an opportunity for the state of California to do what’s right and protect the freedom of our students to make decisions about their own bodies. Follow Grace on Twitter @gpangcalstate Grace Pang is the Vice President of Legislative Affairs for the Cal State Student Association. People-Centered Politics, appears on the last Thursday of the month.

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OPINION

THURSDAY, AUG. 29, 2019

Stop using pixelated violence as a scapegoat Hugo Vera CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Greek philosopher Plato once famously said, “Only the dead have seen the end of war,” and as gritty as it seems, the same seems to be true about mass shootings in the United States. Since perpetrators Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed so many of their fellow Columbine High School classmates 20 years ago, the archetype for the American mass shooter has been a young white male with white supremacist tendencies, an obsession with firearms and an affinity for video games. Or so the gun-lobby would have us believe that video games are part of the problem. Columbine began the current growing sentiment that video games have become a contributing factor in mass shootings but in reality, such rhetoric is preposterous. In 2001, then-U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher said, “We clearly associate media violence to aggressive behavior.” Such a statement would seem to hold some weight with the releases of video games such as “Halo”, “Call of Duty” and “Battlefield.” These games fall under the video game genre “first person shooter” in which gamers typically

shoot enemies in a variety of military-inspired combat missions. In truth, these games are prone to featuring gore, profanity and other adult thematic elements but to draw a correlation between these games and the recent spike in mass shootings is a rash conclusion that lacks much forethought. To begin with, video games are regulated much like movies are with a comprehensive rating system. As its governing board, the Entertainment Software Rating Board places explicit letter ratings on all commercial console and personal computer video games. Games rated “E” are the equivalent of movies rated “G.” The system works its way up until you have the rating “M” for ‘Mature’ in which only people age 17 and older can purchase said games. Another grossly overlooked component to this debate is that not all video games even contain any type of violence at all. Games such as “Minecraft” or “Lego Avengers” feature mild, cartoonish violence. The ongoing “FIFA” and “Madden” franchises are sports-based games and are hance devoid of any guns. Video games, like movies and television, have seen an explosion in the variety of sub-genres they entail.

ILLUSTRATION BY MELODY DEL RIO

With thousands of tiles and counting, there’s literally a game for everyone and that doesn’t always mean shooting Russian spies in “GoldenEye” or fighting off Covenant Army troops in “Halo.” Following the shootings in Texas and Ohio this summer, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy argued that “video games dehumanize individuals,” during an interview on “Fox & Friends.” Politicians such as McCarthy make it seem as though all video games are a plague on humanity, but statistics suggest that even without video games, the spike in gun violence is strictly an American issue. The New York Times

reports that Japan, one of the global leaders in video game development and consumption according to Imagine Games Network, didn’t have any violent gun deaths per 100,000 citizens in 2017. Neither did South Korea and China, which join Japan in the list of highest video-game revenue per person. That same year the United States, another major consumer of video games, reported more than four violent gun deaths per 100,000 citizens. East-Asian gamers buy and play more video games than the rest of the world, yet their mass shooting numbers remain dormant. “There’s been shootings even before video games

were a thing. I think the main focus should be on mental health,” biology freshman and avid “Assassin’s Creed” gamer Alex Gomez said. “I think the Columbine shooters played violent video games like ‘Doom’ and people back then blamed the game, but how many middle schoolers and myself included played ‘Call of Duty’ for hours and didn’t shoot up our schools?” he said. As a lifelong gamer myself, I will not stand to see my people become a scapegoat for an issue that has nothing to do with our way of life. Since I first began playing “Lego Star Wars: The Video Game” when I was nine years old,

I can honestly say that playing video games gives gamers a means of relieving stress in a way that doesn’t harm human beings. I would much rather have an insecure and angry young man take his anger out on a collection of fictional animated aliens than to do so with actual human beings. The only blood video gamers spill is pixelated. Furthermore, it’s time for society and lawmakers to stop dehumanizing us gamers in general. Thanks to online servers that connect gamers from all over the world, I’ve made lasting friendships and connections with people of all ages, sexualities, races, ages and religious beliefs. In the real world, who you are and where you come from can limit you. In the video gaming world, you’re just another anonymous collection of pixels with just as much to contribute as the next player. Video games don’t cause mass shootings. Hate causes mass shootings. White supremacy causes mass shootings. Inadequate care for the mentally ill causes mass shootings. Video games have been and always will be a platform for inclusion and equality through recreation, so the next time gamers are blamed for gun violence in this country, just remember that my KillDeath ratio does not make me a threat to you and your family. Follow Hugo on Twitter @HugoV_II

Spartan Memes of the week

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PARKING

THURSDAY, AUG. 29, 2019

Campus parking issues cause delay

BLUE NGUYEN | SPARTAN DAILY

The 7th Street parking garage quickly ﬁlls to capacity in the morning, leaving students searching for any spots available.

BLUE NGUYEN | SPARTAN DAILY

Empty spots appear at the park and ride lot in the afternoon. The lot reached capacity by 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

BLUE NGUYEN | SPARTAN DAILY

The park and ride shuttle was not able to ﬁt all students in front of Duncan Hall that needed to pick up their cars from the overﬂow lot, leaving some waiting an extra 20 minutes for the next bus.

As students leave campus at 3 p.m., more cars enter the 4th Street parking garage to take the spots that were just opened.

JESUS TELLITUD | SPARTAN DAILY

The 30 minute parking spots get taken quickly throughout the day as a result of crowded parking lots and minimal space.

BLUE NGUYEN | SPARTAN DAILY

Lead parking officer Daveion Harris said the overflow parking lot has never filled up its roughly 600 available spots.

Trying to get to their 1:30 p.m. classes, students’ cars wait in line to climb up the 7th Street parking garage. Each driver asked some passerby if they were leaving and if they wanted a ride in exchange for the spot.