On newsstands weekly
Volume 61 Issue 22
Thursday, May 9, 2024
THE USD VISTA VISTA
The Official Student Newspaper of the University of San Diego since 1968
SASHA BUKHTIYAROVA CONTRIBUTOR Alongside the stress of finals season, a new challenge has arisen for some USD upperclassmen: finding a place to live. A large, incoming first-year class, coupled with changes in housing availability have left USD upperclassmen with limited housing options for the coming academic year. Lissette Martinez, senior director of Media Relations for USD, explained the size of the incoming class and the high housing demand for the 2024-2025 academic year. “We are expecting a freshman class of 1,250 first-year students, and 350 new transfers for the fall of 2024,” Martinez stated. “Of those first-year and transfer students, about 95% will require housing, and all will be assigned.” The incoming first-year class is the second largest class in the past decade for USD, according to the university’s most recently released Common Data Sets. The size is second only to 2018, with 1,310 first-year, first-time students, and closely followed by last year 2023, which had 1,245 first-year, first-time students. Due to the two-year on-campus residency requirement, this means
Students are guaranteed on-campus housing their first two years, but after the requirement ends, many students struggle to get their desired housing. Emma Kate-Squires/The USD Vista
that two of the three largest firstyear classes in the past decade of USD’s admittance will be required to live on campus next year. This predicament has arisen amid the reconstruction of the University Terrace Apartments
(UTAs), traditionally used to house upperclassmen students. The UTAs were composed of 38 apartments, housing up to four people each. With their closure, 152 spots for upperclassmen are now unavailable.
Pro-Palestine protest at USD Faculty and students hold ‘Requiem for Gaza’ LILI KIM ASST. NEWS EDITOR In light of recent pro-Palestine demonstrations across the country, some USD community members are likewise expressing their stance on campus. On Wednesday, May 1, 2024, students, faculty and staff gathered on USD’s Paseo de
Colachis for a requiem in tribute to Gaza. A “requiem” is a Mass or service honoring those who have passed, and is often demonstrated by the Roman Catholic church. As of May 6, the number of Palestininans killed as a result of this war nears 35,000, and increases daily. The event included a “die-in,” where participants laid on the grass to represent those
killed in the conflict. During this time, various faculty members offered Orthodox, Christian, Catholic and Jewish mourning prayers to honor victims and their families. This included Theology and Religious Studies professors Dr. Rico Monge and Dr. Bahar Davary, History professor Dr. Ted Falk and Vice
See Requiem, Page 2
Students and faculty held an event at USD on May 1, which included prayers and a rally remembering the dead in Gaza. Emma-Kate Squires/The USD Vista
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Martinez expressed that supplementing upperclassmen housing with additional housing options elsewhere is already underway for USD. “Those units [the UTAs] have not been occupied since August
UCSD camps out for Palestine
of 2023. To compensate for that, the University expanded its leasing units at Pacific Ridge [Apartments] and in addition has added 300 additional units to the inventory.”
See Housing, Page 3
INSIDE
SPENCER BISPHAM MANAGING EDITOR ANJALI DALAL-WHELAN NEWS EDITOR A pro-Palestine encampment was created and subsequently removed on UCSD’s campus last week. On May 1, University of California San Diego (UCSD) joined the growing number of colleges and universities creating encampments in protest of their university’s business ties to Israel. UCSD students set up an encampment on Library Walk, a pedestrian street that runs centrally through the UCSD campus. Around 20 tents were set up on the grass alongside the road on the first day, over the week, the encampment grew to around 34 tents. Many students also gathered outside of the encampment, some to show support, and a few to counterprotest by holding Israeli flags. Some USD students visited the encampment at UCSD to show support. USD junior, Maya Atwal, visited the encampment several times between May 1 and May 6.
See Encampment, Page 2 @theusdvista theusdvista.com
Football recruitment See News, page 3
Superheroes in the media See Opinion, page 4
SD family activities See Feature, page 6
Summer is coming See A&C, page 9
‘I hate sports’ See Sports, page 12