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

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 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.”

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.

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