Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020
Volume 155 No. 22 SERVING SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934
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Controversy around death of Black SJSU fraternity member reignited By Jovanna Olivares & Isalia Gallo STAFF WRITERS
Photos by Blue Nguyen & Yann Lapnet Above: Denise Johnson is comforted by a protester during the Saturday night demonstration as she talks about how she suspects her son was murdered 12 years ago. Bottom left: Protesters chanted as they marched down Santa Clara Street near Sixth Street demanding that the late SJSU student’s case be reopened. Bottom right: Protesters created a shrine with flowers and candles in front of Sigma Chi to honor the life of Gregory Johnson Jr., late fraternity member and student.
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rotesters seeking justice for a San Jose State student who died in 2008 gathered at San Jose City Hall and marched to a boarded up Sigma Chi fraternity house Saturday night. A Sigma Chi fraternity member found the then 20-year-old Gregory Johnson Jr., who was also a Sigma Chi member, hanging in the fraternity’s basement. The University Police Department and Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office ruled the case a suicide, according to the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner autopsy report. But 12 years after his death, his mother isn’t convinced her son killed himself.
University to review suicide case In an email, SJSU President Mary Papazian responded to concerns the public raised about Gregory’s case. She said she consulted with “legally permitted individuals” to review Gregory’s case. “My understanding is the investigation was meticulous and thorough, and that the facts reflect a deeply unfortunate loss of a young man’s life,” Papazian said in the email. Papazian said that the university is committed to addressing systemic racism by closely examining and or creating mental health services and practices for Black students, faculty, and staff. Papazian’s email states the university would provide other resources such as mental health services and research in violence to help Black students at SJSU but will not reopen the case. The Instagram page Justice for Gregory Johnson, which is managed by Gregory’s mother Denise Johnson and a group of students that would like to remain anonymous for safety reasons, all confirmed they received the President’s email.
The protest continues The Instagram account Students4GregoryJohnson, an SJSU student advocacy group dedicated to seeking justice for Gregory’s death, posted on Oct. 9, the night before the protest, that organizers met with Nancy Nguyen, associated director of student involvement at SJSU, over Zoom to discuss the event. Nguyen warned the group that they would be held liable if any SJSU community guidelines, like illegal disruptive misconduct, were broken during Saturday’s protest. Even after Nguyen’s warning, many students still showed up to support the Johnson family. Just before the march started, organizers set up a table outside San Jose City Hall to sell T-shirts that had a photo of Gregory’s face with the words “Who killed Gregory Johnson?” on the back and Black Lives Matterthemed masks. All merchandise proceeds went to the Johnson family. After the event started around 7 p.m., organizers handed out sheets with specific chants for protesters
to use. The number of participants grew rapidly within the hour, resulting in more than 200 people at the end of the night. In May, SJSU sociology sophomore Tiffany Yep created a petition on Change.org back in June to raise awareness for Gregory’s death. Since then, more than 106,000 people signed the petition as of publication. UPD Chief of Police Gina Di Napoli told the Spartan Daily in an email in late June that there are various details in the petition that are wrong. “What I have discovered from talking to people who have knowledge of the case, shows that the petition is incorrect in some places,” Di Napoli said. “I wish the person putting the petition together would have called before misleading others.”
It’s ridiculous to me that this conversation is just happening. It needs to happen more often, but most importantly it needs to happen in the (Greek life) chapters, all the chapters.
out candles and many brought flowers to honor Gregory’s memory. Gregory’s mother, Denise, spoke at a lectern in front of the fraternity house as organizers projected the words “Goodbye Sigma Chi” across the street onto the university’s Central Plant building. “Nov. 22, 2008, four [Clearlake, California] police officers came to my home. Seven hours after Gregory was found dead in the Sigma Chi fraternity house in the basement,” she said. “I called the coroner’s office and asked to come down here in Santa Clara County coroner’s [office] to see my son, identify him. I didn’t believe it was him. I didn’t because they said he committed suicide.” Black Liberation and Collective Knowledge (B.L.A.C.K) Outreach, a San Jose-based activist group, encouraged protesters to paint “Justice for Gregory Johnson” on the road in front of the Sigma Chi fraternity house. San Jose Police Department helicopters flew over the crowd as officers told people to clear 10th Street, which was taken over by protesters who didn’t budge. After a series of speakers shared stories outside the fraternity house about the importance of protesting and raising awareness, the group marched back to City Hall. B.L.A.C.K. Outreach members used sage to “cleanse” the energy while marching back through the neighborhood of fraternities. When the protesters arrived back at City Hall, they continued to chant “Justice for Gregory Johnson” while projecting the faces of various 2008 Sigma Chi Fraternity members on the Rotunda building. Organizers said these members were responsible for Gregory’s death.
Gregory’s supporters speak out
Prior to walking with the protesters, Denise said she was told her son committed suicide because he had a $4,000 student loan. She expressed her frustration at what she feels is a Briena Brown shoddy investigation and “a cover up”. sociology senior and “[UPD] laughed at me, they made fun of our family, Alpha Omicron Pi sorority member they said Gregory was crazy,” Denise said. She said UPD ridiculed her by treating the fraternity At approximately 8 p.m., protesters began flooding brothers as witnesses, rather than murder suspects. Some protesters spoke in front of the crowd when the streets and blocked off traffic as they headed east on Santa Clara Street,chanting “San Jose has got to know, they gathered in front of Sigma Chi to support reinvestigating Gregory’s case. Sigma Chi has got to go.” Briena Brown, a sociology senior and speaker at As the crowd approached the fraternity house, an organizer announced over a loudspeaker that Sigma the demonstration said she found out about Gregory’s Chi members boarded up the house beforehand and death over six months ago. “I am genuinely ashamed,” she said during the fraternity brothers were asked not to speak about her speech. the situation. Brown, who is also an Alpha Omicron Pi sorority Upon arrival, the house appeared vacant and had plywood boards covering most of the windows member, said she’s ashamed because it took her this long to know about the case. and doors. Various protesters then made a shrine around a tree in front of the fraternity house. Organizers handed JUSTICE | Page 2
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NEWS
TUESDAY, OCT. 13, 2020
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TUESDAY, OCT. 13, 2020
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Above: Marchers flood Santa Clara and 10th streets as they walk from San Jose City Hall to Sigma Chi fraternity to build a shrine for Gregory and listen to speakers. Left: Protesters kneel and sit in front of a memorial overflowing with candles and flowers outside the Sigma Chi fraternity house, where Denise speaks about her son.
JUSTICE Continued from page 1 “It’s ridiculous to me that this conversation is just happening,” she said. “It needs to happen more often, but most importantly it needs to happen in the chapters, all the chapters.” Psychology junior Sam Royal said it’s fundamental to support the SJSU community and Black people, who have been oppressed for years, especially in Greek life. “It’s important to speak about something that’s so blatantly a murder,” Royal said. “It’s so clearly not right and there is not enough being done.”
When their whole weight is not pulling against the object around their neck, like if they were sitting or their feet were on the ground . . . the arteries taking the blood up into the head are still at least somewhat open.
Identifying Gregory’s body
electrical cord around his neck. The Johnson family finds the death suspicious because Gregory measured 6 foot, 1 inch tall and weighed 220 pounds, according to the autopsy report, but the distance from the floor to the water pipe measured about 5 feet, 10 inches. Denise said the lack of ligature marks around Gregory’s neck are an indication that he didn’t hang himself. Campman said ligature markings, marks made by cord, rope or other materials when used in strangulation, do not always appear after death from lack of oxygen. “When their whole weight is not pulling against the object around their neck, like if they were sitting or their feet were on the ground . . . the arteries taking the blood up into the head are still at least somewhat open,” he said. He said ligature marks tend to be less common when a person is fully suspended or has the blood flow going up to their head fully blocked by the object which was used to hang themselves. Denise said the position Gregory was found in would logically indicate that markings should have been visible. A 6-inch crack she found on Gregory’s head raised unanswered questions among his family and friends. “It took me 13 days to raise money. To get him home. So I could find a crack on the back of his
Denise said the Clearlake Police Department notified her of Gregory’s death several hours after he died. Moreover, she said the university notified its students, staff and faculty members about Gregory’s death in a campuswide email before contacting her. Steven Campman, the San Diego County chief deputy medical examiner said in an email that there is no real method of identifying a body. He said that it is common for bodies to be identified by government-issued identification images, such as a driver’s license or passport. Denise said the coroner’s office denied her a viewing of the body because police used Gregory’s driver’s license and the help of Sigma Chi fraternity members to identify Gregory’s body. The Santa Clara County coroner’s office reported that a body cannot be viewed once it has been identified, according to a Feb. 19, 2009 Spartan Daily article.
No ligature marks and a cracked skull According to the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s autopsy report, a fraternity brother reported finding Gregory at around 2:45 p.m. Gregory was hanging from a ceiling water pipe in the fraternity basement with an orange
Steven Campman San Diego County chief deputy medical examiner head,” Denise said. The Santa Clara County Medical ExaminerCoroner’s Office told the Johnson family that the head injury occurred as part of the autopsy process according to a Feb. 25, 2015 Spartan Daily article.
Case faces jurisdiction issues UPD investigated Gregory’s case, but its chief of police at the time, Andre Barnes, told the Johnson family that UPD was not prepared to handle a homicide. Instead of SJPD handling the case, UPD took over because it had jurisdiction over the area where Gregory’s body was found. The FBI also investigated the case as a hate crime after being asked to look into it by the Lake County NAACP branch. The case eventually went cold in 2009, according to a Feb. 25 Spartan Daily article. Denise said she and her husband were denied information regarding the FBI investigation because it was a “matter of national security.”
Follow the Spartan Daily on Twitter @spartandaily Andrea Briseño contributed to this article.
Top right: Protesters call for a review of a 2008 investigation into the death of a San Jose State student, which was ruled a suicide. Bottom right: People hold up “Black Lives Matter” signs and demand justice for Gregory Johnson Jr. 12 years after his death. Left: Denise Johnson shows a piece of evidence, Gregory’s bloody towel, that was found with his body on Nov. 22, 2008.
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
TUESDAY, OCT. 13, 2020
Local kids learn power of art activism By Laura Fields STAFF WRITER
Remote learning because of the coronavirus pandemic is limiting art education in the public school system, but a local organization is teaching children the power of vulnerability and social justice through art. Local Color hosted a free five-day “youth activism” art camp on Oct. 5-9 called LoCo Recess, where children ages 4-17 learned to spray paint, screenprint and compose spoken word poems as a way to express themselves. Local Color is a nonprofit art organization that promotes and advocates for the creative community in San Jose. The organization had its art camp at its Keystone art studio location on San Carlos Street just outside the downtown area. Kids who participated worked under two shaded areas in the back parking lot, surrounded by tall green vines with bright indigo flowers. The organization’s art studio is quietly unassuming, and from the street, the studio looks like a ramshackle restaurant supply store. On the inside, visitors see a professional studio, cans of paint lying around the perimeter, giant printers in the central office and funky, colorful sculptures. After the creation of the Black Lives Matter mural on Empire Street by local art activists, Carman Gaines, the membership and facilities manager at Local Color noticed a lot of families supported the mural’s establishment. “We looked at that as an opportunity to continue that momentum to provide opportunities for the youth to explore creativity,” Gaines said. She said Local Color made almost $3,000 selling Black Lives Matter shirts and a drone image of the Black Lives Matter mural on their website. This money helped fund the LoCo Recess youth camp. “[Local Color] did feel like it was important to use some of the raised funds to pay the teachers that are involved,” Gaines said.
PHOTOS BY BLUE NGUYEN Top: Isabella uses pink paint to create various-sized dots on a building block wall to familiarize herself with different spray paint nozzles for the practice exercise at LoCo Recess youth art camp on Thursday.
Middle: Students experiment with spray paint on Thursday at the Local Color Keystone studio on San Carlos Street.
It’s super awesome that they can visualize a better world. And for them to recognize that there’s work to be done in the world that we live in.
Bottom: Demi talks to another art camp student before the spray paint class begins on Thursday.
Beija Gonzalez grassroots activist and mom
Gaines credited Beija Gonzalez, a grassroots activist and mom, for coming up with the youth art activism camp idea. Gonzalez enrolled both of her daughters in the program and instructed the 4-7 age group. “[Art] is a beautiful way to convey a great message that everyone wants to get involved in,” Gonzalez said. “Just being able to give them the tools to be able to express their means of activism and activate the community in their way.” What surprised Gonzalez was how “super comfortable” the kids were interacting with each other, despite the children participating in distance learning at school this year. She said the children were ready to be social and chatted across the tables with their peers, making meaningful connections with other kids and teachers. Gonzalez held a lesson for the youngest age group to draw “a better world.” Some kids drew colorful, swirly candy worlds while others created a giant blue world full of little green islands. One student named Mateo, who finished his candy world drawing early, started creating his current world. He told Gonzalez that his grandpa died in war, to which Gonzalez replied, “Well, that wouldn’t happen in your better world, right?” He agreed and said there should be candy bombs instead of
real bombs. “It’s super awesome that they can visualize a better world,” Gonzalez said. “And for them to recognize that there’s work to be done in the world that we live in.” Gaines said a boy named Josiah, who celebrated his eighth birthday during the art camp, told her he was sad he couldn’t have a party with his friends. As a consolation, Josiah created a watercolor painting of a birthday cake while opening up to Gaines about his remote learning experience. Gonzalez said many parents were supportive and excited about the camp because they hadn’t seen a program like it before. She said the limitations of remote learning and online classes have affected her own daughters’ education. “It’s too soon to know [what] the effects of distance learning are,” Gonzalez said. “We know that they’re not getting enough social time.” She said her daughters just see the other students on a screen and don’t talk or interact with them, showing the disconnect kids have been experiencing with online education. Gonzalez’s youngest daughter, Xochi, told a friend of her mother’s, “I don’t have any friends, but maybe after coronavirus.”
Aliks Hernandez, a Local Color artist who ran the screenprinting class for the eldest group of kids, helped set up a plastic block wall for kids to practice spray painting. “It’s very much open for the kids to express [social activism] if they want to, but it’s not required,” he said. Late in the afternoon, the 8-13 age group trickled outside into the tarped area as Jimmy Fonseca, another Local Color artist, began his lesson teaching kids the differences between various spray can nozzles. Sofia Martinez, a fifth grader from Perseverance Preparatory School, said she’s had experience with spray cans. Sofia said she and her mom often use spray paint to decorate DIY cereal dispensers and woven baskets. “We spray paint everything that we don’t like on the furniture,” Sofia said. Hernandez said LoCo Recess was in its “pilot week” and if it was a success, Local Color plans on hosting another round of youth art classes. “There’s such a range of people here [at Local Color] with all different mediums, we could definitely get things like this set up more and more,” Hernandez said. Follow Laura on Twitter @swimgirllaura
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OPINION
TUESDAY, OCT. 13, 2020
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Don’t punish minor drug offenders Isalia Gallo STAFF WRITER
All California counties should offer medical treatments to people arrested for drug possession instead of putting them in jail because it would lower incarceration rates and keep targeted minorities out of the prison system. Recently, Contra Costa County experimented with waiving minor drug offenses in an effort to divert some work from the overloaded justice system. Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton, said the idea is to keep low-level recreational users out of the criminal justice system and get them into the healthcare system, with the goals of reducing the strain in courts and on law enforcement and also by providing treatment options in a Sept. 24 KTVU Fox 2 article. Bringing a program that helps minorities that were convicted back up on their feet would be extremely beneficial. Santa Clara County was the first county in California to implement a policy like this. A June 24, 2019, KPIX 5 article estimates that it could keep 80% of drug offenders in Santa Clara County out of jail.
Having this goal potentially ensures that convicted drug offenders would get a second chance to redeem themselves, which is a turn in the right direction. According to a Jan. 14, 2009 article published in JAMA, an open-access monthly medical journal, treating drug-involved offenders provides the opportunity to decrease substance abuse and reduce associated criminal behavior. In the past, many people served jail time for low-level drug offenses. Still, in several California areas, county officials passed legislation to lower the number of people in prison for recreational drug use. Last year, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release on April 29 that it would stop prosecuting people that have been charged with small drug offenses and instead treat it as a health issue. By treating it as a health issue, California taxpayers could save on money that would usually go toward paying for things like inmate healthcare, prison operations and record keeping. According to the
SOURCE: PUBLIC POLICY INSTITUTE OF CALIFORNIA; INFOGRAPHIC BY BLUE NGUYEN
Legislative Analyst’s Office, it costs about $81,000 to incarcerate an inmate in California versus about $2,000 to provide drug offenders with medical treatment. Getting treatment for health issues can be a solution to keep people out of jail. Cindy Chavez, supervisor and chair of the Santa Clara County Reentry Network, commented on using treatment instead of incarcerating drug offenders. “Our Reentry Center’s innovative approach has a proven record of success,” said Chavez in a County of Santa Clara news release. “Our county recidivism
CLASSIFIEDS CROSSWORD PUZZLE
rate, reported in 2015, is 34% – just about half of the national rate of 61%.” Santa Clara County Reentry Network is a network of multi-faith religious institutions, community organizations and volunteers who provide transitional services for newly released inmates. The network’s success in helping reduce recidivism rates has been a tremendous help in keeping people off the streets and getting them the medical attention they need. Every California county should waive recreational drug offenses. Latinx and African American people are more likely to be arrested for possession
of a low-level drug than white people because of racial profiling. According to a June 27, 2018 article by the Center for American Progress, a liberal public policy organization, “Black Americans are four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana charges than their white peers.” By transitioning from punishing drug offenders with jail to helping them with medical services, it would help reduce the disparity of minorities in jail, who make up the majority of arrests for drug offenses. In an April 29 County of Santa Clara news release, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office
SUDOKU PUZZLE Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains every digit from 1 to 9 inclusively.
said that it has “cleared or reduced” more than 9,000 charges for the use and low-level sales of marijuana convictions. For the County of Santa Clara, taking action regarding low-level drug possession for drugs such as marijuana was an excellent step. Before April 2020, the county had more than 13,000 marijuana convictions that dated back to 1973, according to the April 29 Santa Clara County news release. Providing this information to the public shows that the county is willing to make a change in the community.
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JOKIN’ AROUND What do you call a fish without eyes?
Fsh
SOLUTIONS
ACROSS 1. Where two pieces meet 5. Ancient Greek unit of length 10. Church alcove 14. An acute inflammatory disease 15. Adult male singing voice 16. Agent 007 17. Conciliator 19. Male deer 20. 3 in Roman numerals 21. More prudent 22. Spirited 23. Weblike 25. Shorthand 27. Mineral rock 28. New innovative businesses 31. Abatement 34. Bumbling 35. Caviar 36. Send forth 37. Sharpshoot 38. A splitting tool 39. Aspire 40. Mongrels 41. Woman’s sleeveless undergarments
42. Makes ready 44. “Eureka!” 45. Tall structure 46. Envisage 50. Ellipses 52. Spelunked 54. Holiday drink 55. Mongolian desert 56. Sketcher 58. A jaunty rhythm 59. Nosed (out) 60. Apollo astronaut Slayton 61. Type of sword 62. Tiny balls strung together 63. At one time (archaic) DOWN 1. Killed 2. Lofty nest 3. Bounds 4. Japanese apricot 5. Hit 6. Make fun of 7. Kitty (poker) 8. Door thresholds 9. Mistake 10. Not present 11. Medley
12. Break 13. Jittery 18. Simpleton 22. Flippant 24. Boor 26. Adhesive strip 28. Piques 29. Defecate 30. Stitches 31. Bound 32. Arab chieftain 33. Schedule 34. Mediate 37. Certain 38. Banner 40. Mouths 41. Tint 43. Respectful 44. Restitution 46. Overgrown with ivy 47. ___ alia 48. Recesses 49. Heron 50. Leer at 51. Voice Over Internet Protocol 53. Seaweed 56. Debutante 57. Citrus drink
10/08/2020
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SPORTS
TUESDAY, OCT. 13, 2020
Students react to football at HSU By Isalia Gallo
ABOUT 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. 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.
EDITORIAL STAFF EXECUTIVE EDITOR CHRISTIAN TRUJANO MANAGING EDITOR OLIVIA BOWMAN EXECUTIVE PRODUCER JESUS TELLITUD NEWS EDITOR ANDREA BRISEÑO ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR BRYANNA BARTLETT PRODUCTION EDITOR CHELSEA NGUYEN FLEIGE A&E EDITOR ERICA LIZARRAGO OPINION EDITOR CHRIS PADILLA SPORTS EDITOR KATHRYN HOEDT PHOTO EDITOR BLUE NGUYEN SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR ALYSON CHUYANG STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS GIA PHAM AHMAD ALIABIDI YANN LAPNET SANJUANITA GARZA COPY EDITOR HAILEY FARGO JAMIE BENNETT DESTINEE VARGAS GRAPHICS EDITORS NICK YBARRA BRIANA CONTE HANZ PACHECO RAQUEL GARCIA SENIOR STAFF WRITERS JONATHAN AUSTIN JOCLYN AGUIRRE ANDREW GLENN STAFF WRITERS LAURA FIELDS SAMANTHA HERRERA RUTH NOEMI AGUILAR ESMERALDA BAUTISTA ISALIA GALLO OLIVIA GERBER SHIRI MARWAHA JOVANNA OLIVARES FELIX OLIVEROS ALEXANDRA SHEZIFI STEPHANIE LAM PRODUCTION CHIEF MIKE CORPOS NEWS ADVISER RICHARD CRAIG
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STAFF WRITER
Following the San Jose State football team’s arrival at Humboldt State, students from both universities used social media to voice their concerns about the team practicing at another campus. The SJSU football team traveled to Arcata, California to prepare for its first game against the Air Force Falcons on Oct. 24 because the Santa Clara County Health Department has yet to approve team practices. Angel Cumbo, an HSU criminology and justice studies sophomore, said she thinks it’s extremely unfair to have student-athletes from another school take over campus facilities and risk HSU students’ health. “Many of my friends are on sports teams and are restricted from practicing or were barely granted approval to practice,” Cumbo said over text. According to The New York Times’ California COVID-19 map and case count, Santa Clara County has had more than 22,000 coronavirus cases compared to Humboldt County, which has a total of 529 cases as of Monday. Under an Oct. 2 Instagram post by the Lumberjack, HSU’s student newspaper, HSU students said they were not informed until a day before that the SJSU football program would be staying on campus. In previous reporting done by the Spartan
THOMAS LAL | THE LUMBERJACK
The San Jose State football program arrives at Humboldt State on Oct. 2 to practice for its season starting Oct. 24.
Daily, senior director of media relations Kenneth Mashinchi said SJSU Athletics’ estimated expenditures for HSU trip. “Based on current projections relative to length of stay at Humboldt State University, SJSU estimates expenses -- including meals, housing, use of their facilities and round trip bus fare -- will fall between $100,000 [and] $150,000,” said Mashinchi in the email. “All costs for temporarily relocating to Humboldt State University will be paid for through the SJSU Athletics’ budget, similar to all football expenditures.” SJSU students said it’s unfair that their tuition, along with other money from donors, is being used to pay for student-athletes practicing at a different
campus instead of it going toward improving the student experience. In previous Spartan Daily reporting, SJSU graphic design junior Moises Cartachea said that SJSU Athletics could be investing the money into other university projects that could benefit the campus community. HSU students living on campus are also raising noise complaints about the SJSU football team staying in the campus dorms. “Looking at social media as well, it has been made very clear that the school [resident advisers]’s are also dealing with difficulties when their residents are making complaints about the SJSU football team being disruptive,” Cumbo said, “Even as I have walked
around campus, I have seen many boys in their SJSU shirts without masks or not wearing them correctly and it’s extremely frustrating.” HSU zoology freshman Patricia Flanagan said she could hear the football team being extremely disruptive on campus. “At least be respectful when you’re on our campus and stop being loud and disrespectful to the rest of us just trying to study,” Flanagan said via Instagram DM. Flanagan said she feels like she’s paying thousands of dollars in tuition for football players from another school to do more on her campus than her. While SJSU football players are taking full advantage of campus facilities, HSU students are
told by their administration, they cannot use their football field and are not allowed to have visitors in their dorms. Flanagan said that HSU has shown its students that it will not respect their opinions and will put money before their students. “I am very proud of being able to call HSU my school and attend such a wonderful establishment, but this has caused a lot of anger within many students and myself,” Cumbo said, “As students who live on campus, we have mandatory COVID testing and if we bring other students who do not live on campus into our dorms, we are at risk of being written up.”
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Disability panel opens dialogue By Olivia Gerber STAFF WRITER
The Institute for the Study of Sport, Society and Social Change at San Jose State hosted a panel Thursday centered around the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 in relation to the sports world. The conversation was the second installment of the institute’s “Sport Conversations for Change” series. The panelists were a diverse range of university professors from different parts of the country, adaptive sports participants and collegiate coaches. The webinar-style event had 106 attendees, 84% of whom are college students according to a poll taken at the event. Kinesiology senior Leilani Saelaw, who works with the institute as a student intern, said the discussion made her rethink the sports offered at SJSU because she acknowledged there were no adaptive sports for disabled student-athletes. “SJSU has the resources, we have that big new gym and we should put it to use, not just for people who are able-bodied,” Saelaw said. Saelaw also said the event inspired her to continue to research athletes with disabilities to give her a different perspective of athletics. “The passion and life experiences that the panelists have brought awareness to the audience
in a raw and emotional way that allows [the audience] to see the world through a lens of an athlete with disabilities,” Saelaw said. The panelists said during the event that sports are important for people regardless of their level of physical abilities. “Sport makes us more fully human, which is why sport is a human right for all of us, no matter where we live in our intersectionalities sport makes us who we are,” said Mary Hums, a professor at the University of Louisville Department of Health and Sport Sciences. According to the United States Department of Labor, the ADA “prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in several areas, including employment, transportation, public accommodations, communications and access to state and local government programs and services.” These accommodations extend to large sporting events to allow people with disabilities to attend and participate in athletics. The panelists shared their experiences with their own disabilities and how sports served as a physical outlet for them. Stephanie Wheeler, women’s wheelchair basketball head coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said her road to the Paralympics in 2004 and 2008 was made possible because of the ADA.
ILLUSTRATION BY HANZ PACHECO
SJSU has the resources, we have that big new gym and we should put it to use, not just for people who are able-bodied. Leilani Saelaw kinesiology senior
“In 1999 the University of Illinois was the only university in the entire United States that offered wheelchair basketball,” Wheeler said. “It was the only place I could go be an athlete, be a student and
grow and develop to have those same opportunities as my able-bodied peers.” Panelist D r. Oluwaferanmi Okanlami, an assistant professor at The University of Michigan Medical School,
said conversations about disabilities in athletics are necessary to increase the accessibility to sports for disabled athletes. “I want people to see that providing accommodations is not doing someone a favor, it’s not charity, it’s creating the access that everyone else has,” Okanlami said. “People that have been historically disadvantaged, disenfranchised and marginalized are finally having their day to say, ‘We want to play too.’ ” Follow Olivia on Twitter @LivGerber