Spartan Daily Vol. 160 No. 9

Mahan discusses committee roles

By Mat Bejarano STAFF WRITER

San Jose City Council met on Tuesday for a priority setting session to discuss the committees created by newly inaugurated Mayor Matt Mahan.

The mayor laid out a committee focused on addressing houselessness, community safety and city cleanness.

The five focus reports proposed by Mahan are the Clean Neighborhood Committee, Community Safety Committee, Downtown Vibrancy Committee, Homelessness Committee and Planning & Permit.

The Clean Neighborhood Committee, led by councilmember Peter Ortiz, plans to help keep the city clean. The committee plans on prioritizing their 311 app and adding new city-contracted organizations such as nonprofits and private corporations to better support the project.

The 311 app is a tool that has been implemented by the city, containing access to resources such as eviction prevention. It also allows residents to report safety hazards such as illegal fireworks, road potholes and illegal dumping.

“Hiring and recruiting for all vacant positions is critical to cleaning up San Jose,” Ortiz said.

The Community Safety Committee plans on getting more officers back on patrol. Councilmember Bien Doan said he wants to increase police department staffing to accommodate the community’s needs.

“I would love to see our police

New President stays active on social media

By Dylan Newman STAFF WRITER

San Jose State’s new President Cynthia TenienteMatson is active on Instagram under the handle @sjsuprezmatson, a public account that any student or faculty member can view.

At her previous position as President of Texas A&M University-San Antonio, Teniente-Matson used Instagram and Twitter as a way to hear from the students that she is leading.

“I wanted to think more about what was the best way to engage students and to hear student voices because of my own kids.” Teniente-Matson said. “And like I said, my nieces and nephews, I knew this was the way to communicate with them.”

Teniente-Matson said she participated in public relations courses at Texas A&M-San Antonio, where students took part in building her online

presence and repertoire by hand as a PR project.

She said social media helps her hear about student issues from the source, where she actively advocates for them to speak up in her direct messages.

“I’d say to [students] DM me, reach out to me, you always know where to find me and I’ll respond if I can, or connect you to the right person,” Teniente-Matson said. “That’s how it started.”

Having both an active Instagram and Twitter under the same name gives students a direct line to her phone.

Robin McElhatton, assistant director of media relations at San Jose State, said the new president’s Instagram posts are primarily run by a social media team along with her own posts.

She said it allows her to now be a part of new

SJSU community reacts to MSU mass shooting

By Alessio Cavalca MANAGING EDITOR

A gunman killed three students and critically injured at least five others during a mass shooting which took place in two areas of the Michigan State University in East Lansing, on Monday night.

Police identified the 43-yearold Lansing resident Anthony Dwayne McRae as the suspect in the overnight MSU mass shooting.

McRae died from a self-inflicted gunshot after an hourlong manhunt, according to a Tuesday article by ABC News.

Juniors Alexandria Verner and Arielle Anderson along with sophomore Brian Fraser died during the shooting, according to a Tuesday Michigan State University Department of Police and Public Safety press release.

San Jose State President Cynthia Teniente-Matson released a campuswide email on Tuesday, expressing her condolences to the friends and the families of the victims.

“Our SJSU community stands with the community of East Lansing as they grieve, heal and move forward,” Teniente-Matson stated in the email.

Teniente-Matson stated no community is immune to the gun violence afflicting the United States.

“The fact that such violence took place on a college campus, causing fear, terror and disruption

to the routines of daily life that we all know well hits particularly hard,” Teniente-Matson stated.

As of writing, 67 mass shootings occurred in the United States in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a not-forprofit corporation that provides information about gun-related violence in the United States. There have been more mass shootings at this point of the year than in any other year of the last decade.

Associated Students

President Nina Chuang said it is heartbreaking to hear that this has happened on a college campus.

“The fact that it was on a college campus and the fact that students that were affected [. . .] it’s a reality check for us of how much work we have to do, and how much we really need each other during these times,” Chuang said.

She said while students grieve, heal and process gun violence, there is always the constant fear that it may happen again. Chuang said despite the community’s effort to educate and prevent shootings, mass shootings continue to rise.

“My hope is that, as we continue to grow in our identities, as students . . . that our generation takes a space to combat these really systemic issues that have infiltrated our safe spaces, including universities and areas of comfort,” said Chuang.

President Joe Biden released

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CAROLYN BROWN

CAROLYN BROWN | SPARTAN DAILY

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan discusses various agenda items during Tuesday’s city council meeting at City Hall.

CITY COUNCIL

Continued from page 1

department staffing to be back to prior to 2010. Back then we had 1,450 police officers,” Doan said. “At this point we have about 1,100 police officers and our population has risen 20%.”

As well as investing in police, that committee also wants to invest in alternative 911 response groups such as their current Mobile Crisis Assessment Team (MCAT) who deals with those who are having a mental health crisis.

The Community Safety Committee laid out a plan in their report that focuses on providing more funding to roll out new

INSTAGRAM

Continued from page 1

designs for roads on a more expedited timeline.

The project will play a part in the city’s Vision Zero Action Plan, its goal is to eliminate traffic deaths and severe injuries.

Last year, the city had 65 roadway deaths, setting a record high for the city, according to a Jan. 1 San Jose Mercury News article.

The committee also plans to work with the Santa Clara county and non-profit groups to help fight substance abuse issues,including mental health experts to help individuals in crisis.

The Downtown Vibrancy Committee works to revise downtown to draw in more residents and businesses by

problem-solving conversations that may arise during her presidency.

“If you’re having a problem or issue, somebody else probably is too,” TenienteMatson said. “If you don’t let me know about it, and I can’t help you solve it, we can’t solve problems we don’t know about.”

Teniente-Matson said she sees her Instagram account as an extension of herself, her presidency and the university.

She has had the same account on

removing fees and permits for pop-up vendors.

The committee recommends the creation of a team to coordinate non-profit and other groups to make a more cohesive downtown.

The Homelessness Transition Committee’s main priority is on combating houselessness by getting more people in permanent housing solutions while decreasing the number of those who receive housing but return to houselessness.

A San Jose Census study conducted in Feb. 2022 found that there had been a 9% increase in houselessness since 2019.

San Jose has the highest population of homeless young

Instagram since 2010, and repurposed it for her new role as San Jose State’s President.

Associated Students President Nina Chuang said having a university president who is as active as Teniente-Matson makes it easier for students to be heard.

“It’s super exciting to see an administrator who’s willing to really communicate with students on various platforms,” Chuang said. “I really love the videos and the reels that have been coming out from Instagram, I think it really makes it very approachable for students to talk to her and interact.”

She said she sees Teniente-Matson’s Instagram account as a way for students to better understand the inner workings of the

adults in the country, with nearly 85 unhoused young adults for every 100,000 residents, according to a Jan. 25, 2023 study by the United Way of the National Capital Area.

The Committee also set a goal to build 1,000 emergency interim units for the houseless.

They also have their eyes set on increasing the budget for emergency relief and legal assistance to prevent houselessness.

The last committee, the Planning and Permitting Transition Committee, aims to help those get permits faster to help draw more business in a “open for business” technique to compete with other Bay Area

university at the administrative level.

“This whole approach has been such a great and accessible way for students to really get to know their university president,” Chuang said. “[Average students] don’t know how the systems of our university work. It’s important for our university to really utilize different ways, approaches and tools to make sure that students are aware and cognizant of the happenings of their university in the school that they attend”

Public relations freshman Joseph Gray said he is skeptical of Teniente-Matson’s online presence.

“I feel that President Matson having an Instagram is useless, just like any other

Cities.

During the public hearing portion, there was opposition to the mayor’s committee’s proposal.

Jeffery Buchanan, director of public policy for Working Partnership USA, said the issues the City Council decides to face needs to help all of the city’s tennants.

“It’s troubling to see a number of approaches that rather than addressing the root causes of our challenges as a city simply push them out of sight,” Buchanan said.

political figure having a social media account,” Gray said. “She won’t use her account to actually seek out student opinion, but push whatever message she feels will win over the student body.”

MICHIGAN STATE

Continued from page 1

a statement on Tuesday which assured Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer that he is directing the deployment of “all necessary federal law enforcement to support local and state response efforts.”

“I assured her that we would continue to provide the resources and support needed in the weeks ahead,” stated Biden.

In his release, Biden also stated it is important to take action toward gun violence across the country and that Congress must enact common-sense gun law reforms.

“Too many American communities have been devastated by gun violence,” Biden said. “ I have taken action to combat this epidemic in America, including a historic number of executive actions and the first significant gun safety law in nearly 30 years, but we must do more.”

Mourners set up a memorial after the mass shooting which killed three and injured

Local experts discuss transportation

By Brandon Nicolas STAFF WRITER

The Mineta Transportation Institute hosted the second of a four-part webinar series on Tuesday which explored the transportation challenges rural students face.

The study aims to find solutions to transportation challenges by using transportation-related “educational lesson plans” targeted toward students.

The institute provides training and research regarding the country’s transportation system, according to its webpage.

Christian Wandeler, associate professor in research methods and statistics at California State University, Fresno, was the keynote speaker in the webinar.

He said he uses his Ph.D. in personality and positive psychology to help students in urban areas find safe means of transportation to their school.

Wandeler and his team of Fresno State engineering students centered their research around students in rural areas between Bakersfield and Stockton.

“The goal was, on one hand, to educate students about transportation related topics, but also highlight the career opportunities that come with it,” Wandeler said.

Wandeler and his team utilized university students and faculty, parents of students and local non-profit organizations to help students come up with alternate transportation services.

One of the main issues the webinar covered was how students can make biking to school safer.

In Wandeler’s research, he had prepared eight sessions for students, but had his plans interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

“While we initially planned to have all the students in a class with their teachers and we Zoom in, now we have all the students at home which made it more complex,” Wandeler said.

Students were challenged with calculating how far they lived from their school, how long it would take them to reach school using different means of transportation and identifying which methods of transportation were available to them.

“We asked students if they can walk to school,” Wandeler said. “Typically, they said it was too far away.”

Session four of the program discussed the advantages and disadvantages of biking to school.

Pros included getting exercise, getting fresh air and being mindful of the environment by not using gas and polluting the air.

Cons included possibly falling off your bike and breaking a bone or getting lost on the way to school.

While biking to school is a popular alternative to walking or driving, Wandeler said he wants students to be mindful of the transportation infrastructure they would be using.

“The university students really teach the kids,” Wandeler said. “They involve them to find positive examples of bike safety online because unfortunately they typically don’t see that directly in their environment.”

Supported by conducting a virtual bike audit, students used Google Maps to find their address and determine where it is safe and unsafe

when biking to school.

Students were tasked with determining safe and unsafe environments on their bike route. They then were asked to redesign their schools by developing a prototype of a safer school.

After sharing their model with fellow students, Wandeler hopes they have a better understanding of what makes an environment safe for student transportation.

The final session is a brainstorm for students to discuss the benefits of biking to school, how to make the travel safer and some of the safety challenges they face.

Wandeler said an activity that helped students better understand

transportation safety was building a 3D model that redesigned drop-off and pick-up zones at their school.

“These are some ways to engage the students and bring their learning to life,” Wandeler said.

Wandeler said he aligned his program to fit classrooms of all ages and he relied on the expertise of teachers to provide feedback to better their program in the future.

Follow the Spartan Daily on Twitter @SpartanDaily

Follow Dylan Newman on Twitter @th3dylanproject

Follow the Spartan Daily on Twitter @SpartanDaily

GUETTARDA, CC BY-SA 4.0, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

five at Michigan State University on Monday.

SCREENSHOT BY BRANDON NICOLAS

Christian Wandeler discusses transportation alternatives for rural K-12 students during Tuesday’s Mineta Transportation Institute webinar with the institute’s executive director Karen Philbrick.

Earthquake devastates Turkiye

By Bojana Cvijic MANAGING EDITOR

Survivors are continuing to be pulled out of collapsed buildings as rescuers fight against time and the elements after a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the countries of Turkiye, where it requested to be known as such in the UN, and Syria on Feb. 6.

The earthquake is considered to be the deadliest in the Levant region and the deadliest worldwide since the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, according to a Thursday CNN article.

The death toll continues to climb, with an estimated 41,100 dead in Turkiye and 5,700 in Syria as of Tuesday. Experts continue to expect the number to rise in the hundreds of thousands, according to a Tuesday NPR article.

Kezban Yagci Sokat is the assistant professor of business analytics at San Jose State and board member of the Humanitarian Operations and Crisis management academic group. She said the Levant region has not experienced an earthquake of this magnitude in the last century.

“The latest earthquake [before this one] we had was in 2014, which was in the last decade. It wasn’t this big,” Yagci Sokat said. “This is the largest earthquake that we have had since over 80 years ago.”

The last earthquake of this magnitude in Turkiye was a 7.8 magnitude quake that hit the east of the country in 1939, resulting in more than 30,000 deaths, according to the USGS. Yagci Sokat said the country’s emergency management agency, Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, works similarly to the U.S.’s agency for disasters and emergencies, Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“One governmental institute that is coordinating the entire response, post-disaster, it’s a similar idea for that specific thing [disasters],” she said.

The governmental response in Turkiye has been criticized for being too slow in its response for

recovery and rescue operations in the aftermath of the tragic earthquake, according to a Thursday Vox News article.

“The response was slow, even the president [Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] admitted it was slow [. . .] we had two back-to-back earthquakes in the same region over a 7.8, so I think that is the biggest reason why it was slow,” Yagci Sokat said. “On top of not being prepared for it. Disaster management has four stages: preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation, so if you are not prepared, you cannot respond.”

The biggest question in the criticisms towards the Turkish government is its lax regulations towards building standards in the country, where President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presided over a construction boom in the 2010’s, according to the Vox

of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, have effectively blockaded the region where the earthquake hit, blocking any humanitarian aid from reaching the people in need, according to a Monday Vox News article.

The European Union, U.S., Canada, Switzerland, Australia and the Arab league have all imposed economic sanctions against Syria, severely impacting humanitarian aid to innocent civilians including after the earthquake, according to the Geneva Centre for Security policy, an international foundation dedicated to the maintenance of peace and stability.

Basic necessities including fuel and medicine must come through to the region from Turkiye, where Yagci Sokat said Turkiye has opened more roads for the UN to bring necessities

needs.”

“A lot of this aid [to Syria] has not been able to get to the people that it needs to get to,” Armaline said.

The EU is considering exemptions to the sanctions in Syria in the aftermath of the earthquake, according to a Tuesday article by the National News.

The U.S. announced it would ease sanctions on Friday for six months, according to the National News article.

Yagci Sokat said Turkiye hosts the largest refugee population in the world, where it has been the largest hosting country for the past eight years.

She said, this, in addition to the people that have been internally displaced in the country, has caused a larger recovery effort.

“In this field, [you] will

Jabrayilova said.

The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion sent out a campus-wide email on Thursday offering support for students impacted by the earthquake, with links to organizations in the community and campus resources for those in need.

Armaline said the Human Rights Institute on campus has been sharing news links and resources on its social media websites on ways to help and stay informed, but it is also working on organizing aid to help those impacted in Turkiye and Syria.

Yagci Sokat said a great resource is AHBAP, a nongovernmental organization based in Turkiye, where people are able to donate to those who need relief.

People have organized a website with links to each group organizing aid relief efforts in Turkiye and Syria.

Organizations include Kurdish Red Moon in Syria, The Turkey Mozaik Foundation and Karam.

The California Kurdish Center said it organized an Earthquake fund to help efforts in the aftermath of the disaster, where a significant amount of Turkiye’s Kurdish population have been affected by the earthquake.

news article.

Erdoğan has broadly rejected any criticisms of his government after admitting to “shortcomings” of his government, calling for unity instead of arguing over political interests, according to a Thursday CNN article.

His remarks come after growing frustration from the public about the government’s response to the disaster, where Twitter had become inaccessible until access was restored and traffic filtering had been applied at the internet access provider level, according to the CNN article.

Syria, in the middle of an ongoing civil war and a large winter storm, has seen a large aid crisis that has been exacerbated by the earthquake. The government and President

to the hard-hit region.

William Armaline is the director of the Human Rights Institute at SJSU and sociology and interdisciplinary social sciences professor. He said humanitarian administrators like the UN and other international organizations in charge of organizing aid have failed in what it has reported because of sanctions in Syria.

“So, you know, if you heard them speaking, sort of soon after the actual earthquake, they were saying things like, ‘We need unadulterated access to all people impacted by the earthquake, regardless of border, regardless of sanction,’ ” Armaline said. “They’re saying like, that all has to go out the window, right? But the United States, and some other countries have not bent the knee to those

think that international, either countries or their organizations, should be working on helping with that recovery process,” Yagci Sokat said. “[. . .] It’s a very long process [but] in that process, I know that there is a surge of relief efforts –especially donations are going on – but it should be a steady, longer, longer help in the region for all impacted peoples.”

Finance senior Nikki Jabrayilova, said it’s been more than a week since SJSU has said anything about the earthquake.

“We have a lot of Turkish people at SJSU, at that moment we all were under so much of [an] emotional roller coaster. We are so far from our relatives and we [look] at the Twitter update page to see if there is any more news because another earthquake could happen,”

Yagci Sokat said a lot of people in her own personal life have reached out to see how they can help.

“I am extremely grateful that like, you know, even my chair, my Associate Dean, like, you know, my students from this semester past semester, or like my colleagues from the university, like so many people have reached out to me.” she said. “As [a] Turkish person, I’m extremely touched. That people are individually taking the step to ask, “What can I do?’ ”

FOREIGN, COMMONWEALTH & DEVELOPMENT OFFICE, CC BY 2.0, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Members of the UK’s International Search and Rescue Team prepare to search for survivors in rubble of a building after the Feb. 6 earthquake in Turkiye.

We have a lot of Turkish people at SJSU, at that moment we all were under so much of [an] emotional roller coaster. We are so far from our relatives and we [look] at the Twitter update page to see if there is any more news because another earthquake could happen.

Nikki Jabrayilova finance senior

Paramore’s hiatus finally ends

By Mat Bejarano STAFF WRITER

American rock band Paramore’s newest album, “This Is Why,” released on Friday, successfully expands on the group’s versatile discography.

After an almost six year hiatus — including a solo album from lead singer Hayley Williams with contributions from her other bandmates, the Tennessee collective is finally back with their sixth studio album.

“This Is Why” is the band’s second shortest album, and has a run time of just over 36 minutes with 10 songs.

The album opens with the title track, “This Is Why,” which was an early release as the lead single back in Sept. 2022 — serves a catchy and strong beginning.

The instrumentals on this song feel as though the band really took those six years to focus on every single detail, as the bass line rings out in the intro to drive the song.

Williams is known for her vocal ability and she shines once again on this album, especially on the tracks “The News” and “Running Out Of Time.”

“The News” was the band’s second early release for this album and sticks out like a sore thumb.

While the singing is great, it feels out of place and acts as some sort of fan service for

Rating:

all of the listeners who have been supporters since their 2007 album, “Riot!”

I’m sure the song will be a fan favorite on their upcoming arena tour, but it is an easy skip for me as it lacks the replay value that their first single does.

Fans of the group can hear similarities from Paramore’s 2017 album, “After Laughter” with up-beat guitar riffs in the track “You First.”

Tracks “Big Man, Little Dignity” and “Figure 8” are standouts because of the fantastic incorporation of wind instruments.

Williams’ vocal performance in both songs really feels as though she is singing with her whole heart.

The eighth track “Liar” is one of the more compelling songs as Williams gets personal about her previous love affairs and how she’s reflecting on her current relationships.

Williams’ vulnerability can be felt through speakers in the bridge, “Love is not an easy thing to admit/ But I’m not ashamed of it/ Love is not weakening if you feel it rushin’ in/ Don’t be ashamed of it.”

This track in particular demonstrates how much the group’s songwriting changed when compared to their edgier punk rock sound at the start of their career, such as their 2007 hits “Misery Business” and

Artist: Paramore Release Date: Feb. 10, 2023

Genre: Alternative

“That’s What You Get.”

“It’s so scary to think that you know what it’s like to be in a good relationship only to find you’ve been fooling or even kidding yourself,’’ Williams said about the song in a Feb. 8 video interview with Zane Lowe.

Williams’ vocals are the first thing to come to mind when thinking about Paramore’s musical ability, however drummer Zac Farro makes big attributes as his drumming is perfect on tracks “Figure 8,” “C’est Comme Ça” and “Crave.”

The band’s guitarist Taylor

York work on the album improves and serves importance as it progresses, especially in the intro of songs “Liar,” “You First” and “Thick Skull.”

“Thick Skull” is the final song on the album and is another emotional ballad from Williams where she self reflects on her connections and insecurities.

The aggressive drums and guitar played in the chorus are perfectly placed and helps develop the theme of self-reflection.

Williams’ pain is felt in the lyrics, “I am a magnet for broken pieces/ I am attracted to broken

people/ I pick ‘em up and now my fingers are bleedin’/ And it looks like my fault.”

The album is another milestone for the group and while it doesn’t compare to their previous album, “This Is Why” proves why they have had such longevity compared to other bands that rose to fame around the same time around the same time.

Follow the Spartan Daily on Twitter @Spartandaily

Students put love into Valentine’s Day bouquets

By Matthew Gonzalez STAFF WRITER

Students flowed into the garden, escaping the busyness of campus and stress of classes to unwind through floral therapy.

Associated Students held a Dried Flower Bouquet Workshop at the San Jose State University Community Garden for students to make a personalized array of flowers for Valentine’s Day.

Kinesiology senior Elisa Ramos said bouquet-making was a welcomed break and the garden is a place she has personal roots to where she finds great comfort as she added red, orange and pink flowers to her colorful bouquet.

“This is definitely a great change of pace for me because I’m always in a classroom,” Ramos said. “This [garden] reminds me of home as well, because my dad gardens, so it’s always nice to be in this calm, peaceful area.”

The flowers for the bouquets were dried and sourced from Lunaria Flower Farm in Pescadero, Calif.

Lunaria flowers are purple and pink and native to Europe and Asia, according to a Sept. 28, 2022 article by The Spruce, a website that offers decorating and gardening advice.

Environmental studies graduate student and community garden organizer Matthew Spadoni said this is the second year A.S. has used the Pescadero-based farm as a vendor.

Spadoni said using dried flowers instead of fresh was intentional and necessary to prevent wasting

natural resources.

“It’s actually more sustainable to have the flowers dried,” Spadoni said. “Lunaria farm also does fresh-cut flowers, but stuff that they don’t sell, they can then dry and preserve for longer so that they’re not wasting any of the products that they’re growing on their farm.”

Animation freshman Celeste Esguerra said she appreciated the extra steps taken to ensure the aesthetically-pleasing appearance of the flowers.

“I think it’s really cool that they sourced [flowers] from a different farm,” Esguerra said. “And the way that they were dried, I never knew that you had to turn them upside down to make sure that the stem stays straight.”

The garden’s small size provided an intimate setting for students to mingle with each other and share which flowers they wanted to include in their bouquets.

Business administration sophomore April Murphy said the friendly setting added a sense of comfort to her.

“[Dried Flower] not as anxiety-inducing as bigger events would be, I think having it be more intimate is definitely easier to talk to the people you came with,” Murphy said.

Occupational therapy graduate student Brianna Gilbert said she had followed the SJSU Garden account for a long time and keeps tabs on future events.

She said being in her master’s program can limit her interaction with others outside of her group, but events like the Dried Flower Bouquet Workshop give

her the opportunity to meet other students.

“Being in my program, we are kind of all together all the time,” Gilbert said. “So it’s fun to go to different things on campus just to see different people that exist on campus.”

Gilbert also said being able to see the creativity of her peers was interesting and enjoyed seeing the variety of flowers people chose.

Even though some students didn’t have significant others to make a bouquet for, they still found it important to show their love for other people in their lives.

Sociology senior and A.S. student program assistant Lilyenne Huynh said

recognizing self-love and your love for others is what Valentine’s Day is all about.

“[Valentine’s Day] is just another reason to show appreciation for yourself or someone else,” Huynh said. “So whether [students] are making a bouquet for someone or just making something nice for themselves, I think it’s nice just to have something.”

Esguerra also said Valentine’s Day is a good opportunity to spend time with those you are not romantically involved with.

She said she was going to give the friend who informed her about the event a flower, exemplifying Valentine’s Day isn’t just for lovers.

A similar sentiment was

shared by Murphy, who said it was paramount that people know they’re loved.

“A lot of people do feel like they’re not worthy or not loved,” Murphy said. “And I think even just small acts or you know, just a couple of words of affirmation can really help someone feel that they’re meant to be here and that people love them.”

ENRIQUE GUTIERREZ-SEVILLA SPARTAN DAILY

BY VANESSA TRAN

Students personalize their dried flower bouquets for Valentine’s Day at SJSU Community Garden.

SJSU club performs martial arts

By Enrique Gutierrez-Sevilla STAFF WRITER

Spartan Wushu at San Jose State University is a martialarts sports team that revolves around discipline, choreographed techniques and performances.

Wushu is a Chinese martial art with similar movements to kung fu, tai-chi, judo and taekwondo.

Wushu is performed on a carpet or mat and competitors wear Chinese garments to complete the attire.

Nina Chuang, President of the Associated Students and of Spartan Wushu, has been practicing wushu for 15 years.

Chuang said she is a big advocate for teaching people what wushu is.

“Wushu is a Chinese martial art originated from China, it’s very performance based,” Chuang said. “It’s not as combative as some martial arts as this is much more leisure and maintaining your health and discipline.”

Wushu strives for discipline through exhibition in acrobatics, gymnastics and martial arts.

Discipline is proven in showcases during wushu competitions and performances.

In wushu competition, judges give points based on the competitors movements that involve balances, jumps, kicks, punches, stances, sweeps and throws.

Later this year, San Jose State University is set to host the 24th Collegiate Wushu Tournament. This tournament brings in competitors from universities across the country and Spartan Wushu will compete. The date has not been announced.

According to Wushu

Adventures, there are many techniques to learn in wushu. Some are jumping techniques, conditioning exercises, kicks, punches or stances. Some stances in wushu are horse stance, bow stance, drop stance and rest stance.

“What makes wushu different from other martial arts is I feel it’s more complete,” said Spartan Wushu secretary and justice studies senior Nikolas Maldonado.

“There’s coordination, flexibility, strength, rhythm, which is stuff you find in different movements but wushu takes it to another level and combines all of it.”

During some forms, martial artists use weapons including bo staffs, broadswords, straight swords, spears and nunchucks.

Spartan Wushu doesn’t teach techniques for combat purposes, but to showcase movements.

“The goals are difficult to achieve, the feeling is much better once you get there, it’s a source of fulfillment getting to these goals,” Maldonado said.

Psychology junior and co-secretary of Spartan Wushu Kelso Rivera said he was excited to join Spartan Wushu when he found out about the team.

“I transferred into SJSU and I heard our associate president Nina Chuang give a speech about wushu club and I thought, ‘that sounds so cool’,” Rivera said.

He said he is thankful for the lessons learned from wushu.

“Wushu has taught me to push myself to the limit,” Rivera said.

“There’s a lot of stuff I didn’t think I could possibly do in the club and seeing how Nina manages all of this, I’m impressed by her. It makes me want to push myself, reach higher kicks, do newer

things, get deeper with all my moves, and discipline.”

Wushu does a large amount of fitness, especially in areas such as aerobic and anaerobic conditioning.

Andrew Lee, industrial and system engineering junior, has been doing wushu for one semester. He said that the little time spent in wushu has already made a huge impact on his health.

“Wushu helped me a lot with my flexibility, agility and especially

endurance,” Lee said. “After I joined four to five weeks of practice, I stopped getting so tired and my leg strength increased.”

Wushu involves plenty of physical movement along with performing choreographed techniques.

“It helps you feel elegant, you present yourself in a much more professional way in wushu compared to other disciplines like taekwondo, kajukenbo and karate,” said Lee.

Spartan Wushu invites students to join the club and be part of a close-knit community.

“We’re a group of friends, we like to focus on the community. We build from wushu, get to know each other, and from there you never know,” said Nikolas Maldonado.

Spartan Wushu, a San Jose State club sport, performs Taolu at the Asian Pacific Islander Fall Welcome in the Student Union Ball room last semester.

RAINIER DE FORT-MENARES | SPARTAN DAILY ARCHIVES

A Spartan Wushu club member does a solo Taolu performance in the Student Union last semester.