NAMED BEST CAMPUS NEWSPAPER IN CALIFORNIA FOR 2022 BY THE CALIFORNIA COLLEGE MEDIA ASSOCIATION AND CALIFORNIA NEWS PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
Wednesday, September 6, 2023
Volume 161 No. 07 WWW.SJSUNEWS.COM/SPARTAN_DAILY
SERVING SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934
BRANDON NICOLAS | SPARTAN DAILY
CFA San Jose chapter president Ray Buyco (left) and racial and social justice representative Chris Cox (right) speak at an event on the patio of the Student Union on Tuesday.
Tuition hike hits San Jose State proposed a multi-year tuition increase by 6% SENIOR STAFF WRITER each year for five years and would start during Faculty and student-led the beginning of the 2024 organizations gathered at academic year. the Student Union’s patio Library and area Tuesday evening information science to voice their concerns masters student Trizha regarding a proposal Loren Aquino helped to increase tuition for organize the Students 4 all students. Fair Tuition Campaign The California State alongside fellow student Un ive rs it y ( C SU ) organization members. By Brandon Nicolas
Loren Aquino said the campaign team was founded to promote student discussion and action following the CSU tuition proposal. “We knew we wanted to do something on campus because it’s a topic that we needed to raise awareness on,” she said. She said the primary goal for the campaign was to get people interested in
giving a public comment either by email or in person at the CSU Board of Trustees meeting in Long Beach on Sept. 12 to vote on the proposal. “(Public comments) are the most direct form of public action,” Loren Aquino said. “You can do it in person or online ... we wanted to make sure we got those directions out there somehow.”
Flyers were handed out to students on Seventh Street with a summary of the CSU Board’s proposal and a QR code with information about how to take action. She said SJSU was her first choice for graduate school because it is the cheapest program for her desired degree. “I was a community college student and
transferred to a four-year university,” she said. “I, from the beginning, have always needed to look for more affordable avenues of education.” Loren Aquino said she worked fulltime throughout her undergraduate years. According to the CSU Multi-Year Tuition TUITION | Page 2
Students talk tuition increase By Navin Krishnan STAFF WRITER
ANGEL SANTIAGO | SPARTAN DAILY
Josh Ishimatsu speaks at a community meeting about a decrease in housing costs on Thursday afternoon.
Community addresses housing By Angel Santiago STAFF WRITER
The city of San Jose held a housing community meeting in regard to decreasing the cost of housing in San Jose at the Mayfair Community Center on Aug. 31. Many of those in attendance were low-income families and advocates. Josh Ishimatsu, acting division manager at the Anti-Displacement Tenant Preference Policy
Team, and Avni Desai, an executive fellow from FUSE, did a presentation on the housing crisis in San Jose. FUSE is a national non-profit organization that provides support to low-income residents in the South Bay Area. Ishimatsu and Desai started the meeting by presenting a slideshow of goals city officials are looking to accomplish. Some of these goals included preventing displacement of lowerincome renters, allowing residents to have
housing choices and making the best use of scarce publicly-funded affordable housing. In one of the slides, it stated that up to 35% of all restricted affordable units otherwise available to the general public. These units aim to help low-income families by lowering the cost of housing and preventing the loss of housing. District 5 resident Angelica Flores, said there is a lot of housing construction around her and is at risk of losing her home.
“I am at high risk where there are so many construction projects (East San Jose),” Flores said. “I live in a duplex in which there is no preference, no protection and my situation is risky.” Flores, who works for a small contract-creating business, also said more than half of her salary goes to her rent. Ishimatsu did not describe what the 35% statistic represented. Elizabeth AgramontJustiniano, an advocate HOUSING | Page 2
San Jose State University’s Associated Students established its stance on disapproving the petition created by California State University Chancellor Jolene Koester. The petition’s purpose is to increase tuition by 6% every year between 2024-2029. The CSU is the nation’s largest and most divers e four-ye ar university system which includes SJSU. On July 9, the Cal State Student Association (CSSA) voted unanimously against the proposal. The CSSA is a student collaboration consisting of over 450,000 student government representatives, according to its website. The petition, called the “Multi-Year Tuition Proposal,” would invest in faculty and staff, provide safe, modern and sustainable facilities, invest in high-demand academic programs,
strategically grow resident enrollment and cover required operational cost increases, according to information presented by the CSU Board of Student Representatives on July 9. SJSU Associated Students President and CEO Sarab Multani said the CSU Board of Trustees will most likely vote in favor of passing the petition. Multani said CSU Board of Trustees will meet in Long Beach, Sept. 10-13, where it will debate whether to oppose the tuition increase. Students will have access to the meetings via zoom and will have the opportunity to comment on a live public forum on Sept. 12. “I’ll be honest with you. Realistically, this is going through,” Multani said. “[The Board of Trustees] definitely could have been more professional, more collaborative and more cooperative. A.S. MEETING | Page 2