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Wednesday, October 4, 2023
Volume 161 No. 19 WWW.SJSUNEWS.COM/SPARTAN_DAILY
SERVING SAN JOSÉ STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934
MAYA BENMOKHTAR | SPARTAN DAILY
Attendees discuss the extent of free speech on San José State University's campus on Tuesday afternoon on Tower Lawn in response to a Turning Point USA event.
Students debate free speech By Maya Benmokhtar STAFF WRITER
Bridge SJSU hosted a debate Tuesday evening on Tower Lawn at San José State University. The debate allowed students to voice their opinions about Monday night's guest speaker Charlie Kirk, the founder and president of Turning Point USA. Bridge SJSU, is a nonprofit organization that fights political divisions on campus according to its official website. Turning Point USA is a nonprofit conservative, anti-left group that supports defense of freedom, free markets, and limited government, according to its website. Sabrina Nabizada, political science senior and president of Bridge SJSU, mediated the debate. “We are not endorsing Charlie Kirk in any sort of way,” Nabizada said. “That is not what we do at our campus. We don’t endorse any specific features of any political parties.” She said the organization invites students of all different political backgrounds to speak in the debate. The debate began with students speaking on how they feel about Charlie Kirk being allowed a
platform at SJSU. An economics senior who wished to remain anonymous took the mic and expressed that anyone should be given the chance to speak at SJSU. They said that during Kirk’s presentation, his views did not seem controversial. “What I liked about the event was how much time was dedicated to addressing questions raised by those who did not agree with his political views,” the economics senior said. They also said Kirk was very respectful of those with opposing political views. History junior and member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), who also requested to remain anonymous said from their perspective, Kirk seems like someone who wants to have a debate and cause controversy. “In reality he engages in what I would call, bad faith engagement,” the history junior said. “What I mean by this is typically he tries to go out of his way to portray his opposition on social media in the most negative light possible.” The history junior also said there were instances where people from Students for a Democratic Society attempted to enter the event to ask
questions, but were denied. The history junior explained Kirk was not willing to address everyone, and was caught off guard by some of the questions asked by the attendees.
You can put people at risk for a cause that you support but if your cause is that important you shouldn't have to cause violence to show that. Heaven Watson African American studies freshman
“He brushed it off instead of properly addressing it and engaging with it. Also he espoused Christian nationalist white supremacist views,” said the history junior. Public relations senior, who wished to be identified as FM Allen, said she attended the Charlie Kirk event on Monday and was surprised by the lack of SJSU attendees.
“It was interesting to me that there were barely any SJSU students attending the event, the majority of the people there were elderly and those were the people who wholeheartedly agreed with Kirk and even defended his every word,” Allen said. Allen said regardless of her viewpoints, this event was a perfect example of upholding free speech. The debate raised concern about safety following Kirk’s event, where a window was broken after a protest against Turning Point USA. Heaven Watson, African American Studies freshman said these events can potentially put the campus at risk. “It’s about how you present yourself and I think that people are still putting other people at risk,” Watson said. “You can put people at risk for a cause that you support but if your cause is that important you shouldn’t have to cause violence to show that.” Nabizada said when organizations hold events on campus, organizations are not forced to explain what type of event they’re doing. “Obviously there are guidelines that we all have to abide by, like no underage drinking, no hazing, etc.
but overall we’re not required to alert the university on the event topic,” Nabizada said. The group also discussed whether or not students should have a say in deciding which speakers are allowed on campus. “I want to mention just how ludicrous and extremely self contradictory their argument on the grounds of free speech is to me, because they are a multi-million dollar organization being booed off one campus. They have dozens of other campuses they can go to,” the history junior said. The history junior also said as a student who pays to attend SJSU, he does not want that money to be used to support these kinds of events. The junior said it’s fully within the rights of students to say they do not want certain people on campus. Although this debate raised controversy for the students of SJSU, those who spoke out during the debate all said that there should be certain restrictions implemented in order to protect the campus and overall student safety. Follow the Spartan Daily on X (formerly Twitter) @SpartanDaily
Librarians discuss banned books and censorship By Melany Gutierrez STAFF WRITER
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library faculty debated and discussed the topic of banned books at the Censorship Conversation Seminar on Tuesday. Estella Inda, research services and social sciences librarian and organizer of Banned Books Week, said the Censorship Conversation seminar is a collaborative panel of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. librarians and librarians from San José Public Libraries talking about censorship in K-12 schools through the banning of books. The Censorship Conversation is one of the many events part of Banned Books Week at San José State. Inda said banned books events are done annually at the library and she wanted to make sure something significant was done this year. “I think celebrating banned books week this year alone is so important with book bannings becoming more prevalent and being out in the media a lot more,” Inda said. Nick Szydlowski, digital
scholarship librarian at MLK Library, said librarians in other states are being vilified for trying to provide access to information through books. He said it’s important that Banned Books Week occurs annually because resistance to content put in books ebbs and flows. “There are a lot of attacks on curriculums in K-12 education, a lot of attacks on library books. So it’s important to keep the event going,” Szydlowski said. Tiffany Bradford-Oldham, senior librarian for San José Public Library, said the Censorship Conversation Seminar and discussing how books are being banned is a small part of a bigger picture concerning censorship and access to materials. She said accessibility to information is an ongoing conversation in the larger question of. “We should even go as far as to think about what works are being oppressed,” Bradford-Oldham said. Elizabeth Barragan, librarian for San José Public Library said all people should be represented in different books and banning
them is only taking that representation away. “We live in a melting pot, especially here in San José we have such a diverse community,” Barragan said. “It’s so important for everybody’s voice to be heard and to be represented in the materials that we have within our shelves,” Barragan said. Almost 1,500 books dealing with themes of sexuality, physical abuse, or health and well-being, were banned between 2022 and 2023, according to a website from Poets, Essayists and Novelists (PEN) America, a program dedicated to protecting free expression in the US. Christa Bailey, academic librarian at MLK Library, said having the ability to individually select what you do and don’t want to read should be a personal liberty. “For someone like me who didn't come from a really wealthy background, the library provided me the opportunity to access resources I wouldn't have had otherwise,” Bailey said. Bradford-Oldham said when she was growing up, the book, “The Color Purple,” was a controversial
MELANY GUTIERREZ | SPARTAN DAILY
A panel speaks to attendees about banned books on Tuesday.
book that many authority figures in her life deemed inappropriate or questionable. She said the book itself contained some difficult topics like brutality, rape and homosexuality, but it was important to her because it had cultural relevance. Bradford-Oldham said she connected with the main character who was religious and wrote letters to God, just like she did. “Growing up for me, there was always a clear understanding that there’s only one place in the world you can be free and that is
within your own mind,” BradfordOldham said. Inda said that being understanding of all diverse viewpoints in books is what can help people consider why banning books is bad. “I encourage people to read as they choose and explain and share and know that there’s going to be many different views,” Inda said.
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