Fall 2013 issue 9

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Student-run publication serving the San Francisco State community since 1927

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VOLUME LXXXXVII • ISSUE 9

SF State leads CSUs in fossil fuel divestment

T

bdonovan@mail.sfsu.edu

HE STUDENT GROUP Fossil Free SFSU presented its fossil fuel divestment campaign to the California State Student Association (CSSA) during its

Cal State East Bay to encourage other CSU student leaders to create similar campaigns. Associated Students, Inc.Vice President of External Affairs Sonya Soltani prompted Fossil Free SFSU — the same people that made SF State the from fossil fuel related investments — to present the idea of divestment to CSSA, due to what she called “an increased interest within the CSSA to have their CSU’s divest.” “There was 13 other campuses that signed up on our contact list to express interest in the divestment cant, that’s a majority,” Sonya said. After the Fossil Free SFSU presentation, representatives from Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach have committed to the campaign while Sonoma State, Chico State and Humboldt State are already doing groundwork on their campuses to move toward fossil fuel divestment. Fossil Free SFSU started their divestment campaign last spring when environmentally driven the fossil fuel industry. Divestment means to reduce or eliminate a or political reasons. According to a recent Oxford is spreading faster than the divestment campaign that led to the downfall of the apartheid regime in South Africa. Fossil Free SFSU efforts led to not only SF State’s ASI to unanimously commit to supporting fossil fuel divestment, but also the SF State University Foundation voted unanimously to divest last May. as she explained to CSSA representatives the grassroots nature of this campaign.

Campus hosts suicide prevention day

bfocht@mail.sfsu.edu

The 1,100 backpacks that encircled the lawn in the Quad last Friday morning brought SF State student Patty Mazariegos to tears. Each bag represents the number of students who commit suicide each year — and she once had suicidal thoughts of her own. “To think that my backpack could be lying here — it’s hard,” Mazariegos said. hosted the Send Silence Packing event, which is a traveling art exhibit sponsored by the national organization Active Minds, as a part of the Suicide Prevention Regional Conference. The exhibit was brought to campus partly due to the recent suicide attempts by two students at SF State, according to Yolanda Gamboa, suicide prevention coordinator. “We want people to not live in silence,” Gamboa said. “There are

To think that my backpack could be lying here — it’s hard Patty Mazariegos SF State student

places here on campus where students can go.” tempts happened Sept. 6 and involved a student overdosing on medication in Parkmerced. The other suicide attempt occurred Oct. 4 and involved a

student who stood outside the railing atop the pyramid at the Student Center, according to SF State crime log. The University was able to organize this event with funding received from the Mental Health Services Act, California Mental Health Services Authority and a grant from the CSU’s ulty and students about mental health, host peer-to-peer programs and host training in suicide prevention. The program travels to colleges throughout the nation carrying the 1,100 book bags to show students how frequently suicide happens and to offer them opportunities to seek help. “For someone to be so sad with their life that they want to be dead, it’s a horrible feeling,” said Mazariegos, a junior Spanish major. “It’s sad that all these people felt that way.”

Belva Davis visits SF State for book signing

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