Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019
Volume 153 No. 12 WWW.SJSUNEWS.COM/SPARTAN_DAILY
SERVING SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934
Sports
Editorial
Athletes study kinesiology and health science
SJSU’s neglect of menstrual health needs to end
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A&E Astronomy lecturer brings aliens to the big screen
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PERI D PROBLEMS
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Economics behind bars Speaker compares CA prison system to others By Chris Core
to provide governance for themselves,” Skarbek said. Prisoners are driven to David Skarbek, San Jose form connections behind State 2006 economics alum- bars because the ratio of nus and author, discussed his prisoners to prison workers research on California’s pris- creates a lack of structure for on system inmates, he and in comsaid. parison to “The gangs prisons from are controlling other regions I was a student not only the of the world general [prisat San Jose State Wednesday on] populain the and I’m pretty sure tion today, S t u d e n t this [Norwegian but [prison Union. workers] too,” S k a r b e k prison cell] is nicer Skarbek said. used infor- than some of the “If officials do mation from not provide housing here. his books, resources, “The Social David Skarbek there’s a big Order of the 2006 economics alumnus demand for and author prisoners to Underworld: How Prison provide govGangs Govern the American ernance.” Illicit items such as Penal System” and “The drugs, cell phones and cigPuzzle of Prison Order,” arettes cannot be provided during the seminar. by the correctional facilities, He is a fellow at King’s so inmates look to gang conCollege London and began nections to provide them. his research on crime in To expand on his point on 2010. the gang-formation theory, “Prisoners create civilized entities within the prisons PRISONS | Page 2 STAFF WRITER
$25 - 60 Average cost of a pap smear; recommended for women over 21 to do every three years
13% Personal care/hygiene products cost more for women than men
16,000+ Approximation of how many tampons a woman may use in her reproductive lifetime INFORMATION FROM: GIRLS HELPING GIRLS PERIOD, NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, STUDENT WELLNESS CENTER ILLUSTRATION BY MELODY DEL RIO
Black students face diversity gap By Christian Trujano STAFF WRITER
Female students face extra costs in buying feminine hygiene products By Erica Lizarrago STAFF WRITER
Tampons are one of the many feminine hygiene products female students consider for cost and accessibility in college. Female students often have to think about more than textbooks, class assignments and parking. They also need to worry about personal health concerns. Women’s health issues include menstruation, birth control, annual checks for cervical and breast cancer and pap smears. Resources for these health issues can often be costly, inconvenient and inaccessible. “Being a commuter and dealing with women’s issues like periods, I have to plan ahead or keep extra supply in my car or backpack,” public health senior Kaela Nguyen said. With a large population of commuters at San Jose State, many female students need to plan accordingly for fear of interrupting their school day because of menstrual cycles. “Commuting challenges me because when there are days when I forget to plan or I run out of supplies and I leave
If they can provide condoms, I think it’s also fair they can provide other feminine products that are a necessity. Samantha Smith graphic design senior
early in the morning to beat traffic, I need to rely on the resources available on campus,” Nguyen said. SJSU provides some on-campus resources, including free tampons, pads and condoms at the Student Wellness Lounge and the Gender Equity Center. However, with limited supply for the entire university and high demand for these products, female students usually do not receive more than a couple at a time, Nguyen said. “I have to be prepared with pads and tampons in my car and backpack to make sure an incident doesn’t occur and in case it does, I have to make sure I have an extra pair of jeans in my car or backpack to quickly change,”
business administration sophomore Kathy Cadena-Garcia said. Girls Helping Girls Period, an organization focused on shedding light on accessibility to feminine products, found a woman may use more than 16,000 tampons in her lifetime and spend upwards of $125 extra a year. For students, obtaining one or two feminine products isn’t enough and forces students to buy these products regularly, an expense threatened by financial circumstances. On average, Cadena-Garcia said most women use somewhere around 1,000 tampons during a week of menstruation. In 2016, the National Center for Health Research found that sanitary protection is a $3 billion a year industry. Women at SJSU face a scarcity of locations to buy feminine hygiene products on campus. Several female students interviewed by the Spartan Daily said they must buy tampons outside of the school and questioned why there is a dearth of pads and tampons. “This is something that happens regularly for women no matter what,” music education sophomore Kathleen Darrow said. “I believe because this is HYGIENE | Page 2
Despite the significantly low number of African American and black students at San Jose State, students and faculty say the campus is diverse, but would like to see more resources available. The Wall Street Journal recently released a study ranking SJSU at No. 9 for diversity among private and public universities across the United States. Schools were ranked based on the socio-economic, racial and ethnic diversity among students and faculty and the international student population. But despite ranking ninth, SJSU had a black student population of 3.2% in Fall 2018, according to the SJSU Office of Institutional Research. Kathleen Wong(Lau), chief diversity officer for the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion said her office works hard to recruit more people of color from outside San Jose. But she said Santa Clara County already has a low population of African American and black people, making it hard to serve that community.
In 2018, about 2.8% of the population in Santa Clara County was black or African American. “We are likely underserving African American students – even in this county – because close to half of our African American students come from Southern California,” Wong(Lau) said. She said this makes it hard for African American students to find a sense of community. “On the weekends they may not have family close by,” she said. Business junior Nathanial Hancock said he admires the push for diversity in the Bay Area and thinks SJSU is doing better than other schools. But he also recognized the overall low population of African American students in schools around the country because of societal reasons and how that’s a problem. “As far as diverse for us, I don’t feel like it’s diverse but as far as diversity overall for the campus there’s definitely a lot more influence from other ethnicities and cultures,” Hancock said. He also said how he wants to see more resources and DIVERSITY | Page 2