Spartan Daily Vol. 162 No. 10 by Spartan Daily

WINNER OF 2023 ASSOCIATED COLLEGIATE PRESS PACEMAKER AWARD, NEWSPAPER/NEWSMAGAZINE NAMED BEST CAMPUS NEWSPAPER IN CALIFORNIA FOR 2022 BY THE CALIFORNIA COLLEGE MEDIA ASSOCIATION AND CALIFORNIA NEWS PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Volume 162 No. 10 SERVING SAN JOSÉ STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934

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GRAPHIC BY MELANY GUTIERREZ

Disabled students establish club

By Nikita Bankar

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

A new campusbased club, the Spartan Disability Alliance, is hoping to bring change and accessibility to San José State Students who live with disabilities. The Spartan Disability Alliance (SDA) is open to students of all abilities and is a space for people to connect, learn from each other and bring both accessibility and inclusivity to all parts of campus life, according to its Instagram. The club plans to have weekly meetings with a variety of disability related activities, games and host discussions on intersectionality, equity and ableism, according to the same website. SDA President Diya Agrawal, a political science sophomore, said the idea for the club was formed in September of last semester when she and justice studies junior Riya y Katyal y realized

there were no spaces for disabled students to come together to feel included in campus life. “Riya and I were wondering why there isn’t a space for disabled students to come together and be fully included, and have everything accessible to them in a recreational and social space,” she said. “We decided to soon start a club, and from there we’ve built our team.” Vice President Riya Katyal said the club will not only support students who need assistance, but will also foster a community. Katyal said she also hopes students are able to spread the word to people they know, so that their club grows. “It’s open to all people, so anyone can step in and make a difference,” she said. “We are planning to hold community building events like game nights and movie nights to show people that they are not alone.” Katyal y said one event

that further pushed the group into starting the club was a plushiemaking event in the Student Union, which was not easily accessible for Agrawal, who is in a wheelchair.

join events like these but can’t.” SDA plans to hold discussions that can help them identify where accessibility and inclusivity can be improved on campus, and

We are planning to hold community building events like game nights and movie nights to show people that they are not alone.

Riya Katyal

SDA Vice President

“We had to take the elevator up to get to the ballrooms, since the line was going down the stairs,” she said. “We really wanted to be respectful, but if we wanted to we would have to take the stairs up, and that was not an accessible option. That was when I was getting frustrated, because I understood that there are p who want to other p people

how to take steps towards change, according to their Instagram. SDA Secretary Anna Ryan, kinesiology junior, said when she came to SJSU, she immediately went to the club listings, and was surprised to find that there were no disability related clubs. “I did find the adaptive sports club, which is when q , she I inquired about it,”

said. “It is no longer in existence, so this is my way of revamping that with also adding in other aspects of disability.” Ryan said she also noticed that emergency protocol at SJSU was not accommodating for students with disabilities. After meeting both Agrawal and Katyal at the stuffed animal event, Ryan saw a sign about what action to take in case of an emergency and the content of the sign bothered her. “There was a sign that said ‘People with disabilities wait for assistance,’ ” she said. “I was like, well that’s not good. What are we going to do if there is a fire or something?” Agrawal said the club has plans to address and tackle these accessibility problems by bringing it up to the administration of the school. “It is 100% in our plans to talk to the right people, whether they be admin or otherwise,, to gget these

issues rectified,” Agrawal said. “I think these things just take a little bit more time. If they were so easy to resolve, it would have been done a while ago.” Agrawal said the club is about full acceptance of everyone, and said she hopes communication with the right individuals can help them avoid running into obstacles. Katyal said the club aspires to make a positive impact on campus life that will benefit all students, disabled or not. “We really want to make a change for the better,” she said. “It might be another hurdle, and we might struggle, but I know that we have the intention of working on this and making a change.”

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NEWS

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2024

San José garden left neglected STAFF WRITER

Instead of being filled with clean ponds, the San José Japanese Friendship Garden is currently occupied by murky rainwater that accumulated from recent storms. The friendship garden, established in 1965, was impacted by the 2017 Coyote Creek flood, causing major damage to the its's infrastructure. Avi Yotam, the parks division deputy director, said that it’s the San José Public Works’ responsibility to rebuild the critical infrastructure that supports the ponds by sealing them off and renovating them. Yotam said beyond just the ponds, the garden’s full restoration is a long-term project itself. He said because of limited budget and staffing, the efforts are limited. “A garden like this requires a lot of frequent maintenance,” Yotam said. “Which a department like ours has not been resourced to do.” Yotam said within the last six to 12 months, the restoration project for the Japanese Friendship Garden’s tea house was completed with full remediation of the damages caused by the flood. The project total for the restoration of the tea house was $2.116 million, according to the 2019 - 2020 Adopted Capital Budget for the City of San José. The capital budget is a longterm plan that shows the financial demands of a development, investment or major purchase, according to Investopedia.com. When a city adopts a budget, it means that the city council approves the financial plan, according to the City of Fairview. Manuel Cota, the parks manager for the City of San José, said the Public Works staff has created a new plan to place a business improvement district request within the next three to six months.

Business improvement districts provide public services by generating revenue through assessing local businesses or properties, according to the U.S Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration. Cota said this business improvement district request would include upgrading the koi pond’s filters from temporary filters to ones that could last between 10 or 15 years, depending on the costs. “I know one of the improvements that they wanted to do was (to) change some of the filtration issues,” he said, “Also looking into relocating (the filter) because it’s in the flood plain.” Koi fish is one of the main features that highlight Japanese gardens and symbolize perseverance, strength and good, according to Koi Magazine. However, after the Coyote Creek flood, the koi fish were relocated to a pond in the upper section of the garden as a temporary solution, according to an article by The Mercury News.

KAYA HENKES-POWER | SPARTAN DAILY

A pile of dirt sits unattended at the Japanese Friendship Garden in San José Wednesday morning

“Once we’ve restored and renovated the ponds in the Japanese Friendship Garden, it’s going to be a much more comfortable place,” Yotam said. “I bring this up since

the pond,” Cota said “If there was no koi at all it would be a lot easier.” The algae growth can be prompted by a variety of factors such as warm weather, septic systems, storm drain pollution, manure or animal waste according to the PennState Extension. Cota said he attributes current and past algae growth to warm weather. He said that the pond water’s pH levels are tested monthly to ensure a good environment. Visitors Hannah Patterson and Sherly Gomez came from Santa Cruz for a day trip to San José, and said they found the garden online Manuel Cota Parks manager for the city of San José by looking up things that San José has to offer. “We expected a bit more, but There are currently around 100 there is an element where we have it’s okay, we knew what we were koi fish featured in the upper pond to make sure the population fits coming for,” Gomez said Cota said another part of the while 30 are being held in holding the space.” Cota also said the biggest issue business improvement district plan tanks, according to Yotam. Cota said baby koi and sick koi that is happening in the koi pond includes fixing pond surfaces. He said cracks will be cleaned out, are put in the holding tanks until is managing algae growth. “It’s very difficult to manage surfaces will be repainted and then they are large enough or recovered so that birds don’t try to get them. algae when you have animals in resurfaced.

Once we've restored and renovated the ponds in the Japanese Friendship Garden, it's going to be a much more confortable place.

CLASSIFIEDS 2

2 4

2 8

5 7 2 4

1. A step up 6. Certain data holder 10. Places to be pampered 14. Subject of a famous landing 15. Nobel Peace Prize winner Wiesel 16. Prefix for space 17. Bored with existence 19. Jan's partner 20. New Deal org. 21. It may be flipped 22. Within reach 24. Kind of sale or door 25. Corn container 26. It can't be switched on 32. Uses the blender, in a way 33. Word before Bouvier 34. Fruit basket selection 36. Fishy 37. Place to dream 38. ___ Boothe Luce 39. Time period 40. Yemana on "Barney Miller" 41. Snowman of song 42. Winded 45. Word with steer or rap

5 9 2 9 6 9 8 7 5 6 7 3

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JOKIN’ AROUND Which side of the chicken has more feathers?

ACROSS

3 7

SUDOKU PUZZLE Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains every digit from 1 to 9 inclusively.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE 1

Along with fixing ponds, this request will also be used to fix pipes, issues with filters and any electricity issues. “We saw the first pond drained and we were a little surprised,” Gomez said “But then we walked in and it’s still beautiful.”

46. Classic TV's Fred 47. Not the main event, briefly 51. Common verb 52. It's bagged in the supermarket, often 55. Chinese staple 56. Needing repair 60. Masseur's target 61. The stuff of folk tales 62. Summoned for contempt 63. Hammer wielder 64. Baby blues 65. Nail board DOWN 1. Keeps folks in stitches? 2. Pueblo in New Mexico 3. Taj Mahal site 4. Not in the pink 5. Discriminates, in a way 6. Conveyed ownership 7. Stevedore's grp. 8. "___ Duke" (Stevie Wonder tune) 9. Type of speaker 10. Actress Thompson 11. Jury member 12. Arafat, e.g. 13. Electronics brand

4 5 9

The outside.

Kaya Henkes-Power

18. Sends a telegram 23. Flow back 24. Valley city in California 25. Signaled 26. Sounds made by things in the night? 27. Heep of fiction 28. Just ___ those things 29. Send to a mainframe, e.g. 30. Last but not ___ 31. "Giles Goat-Boy" author 32. Joad and Kettle, e.g. 35. Marina del ___ 37. Economic upswing 38. Belief 40. Trip 41. "___ Jacques" 43. Slugger's stat 44. Truck stops? 47. Word before fall 48. Highly caloric 49. Yodeler's feedback 50. Sidelong glance 52. Bag style 53. Water jug 54. Capp or Rooney 57. Clark or Rogers 58. Vein contents 59. Lacking brightness

SOLUTIONS

February 14

L L A M A D R A W A F A R O I L E D R O B E V I N E W E L L H E E L E D I N G E E D G E D R A G E D S P A R E S L I T E R S H E A V E N R E I N E R I D L E S G O U R D L I B R A M S F L O R A D A N A E N S C R E D O M A K E R P R E E N S L I N E R S S T R O D E W I S E S T C H I D E E G R E T R E N E O N Y O U R T O E S A R G O F O R T A W A R E M E S S F L O E L O R E N

7 3 2 6 5 4 1 9 8 9 6 8 3 7 1 5 4 2 4 5 1 8 9 2 7 3 6 3 8 7 5 2 6 9 1 4 5 9 6 1 4 7 8 2 3 2 1 4 9 8 3 6 7 5 8 7 5 2 3 9 4 6 1 6 4 3 7 1 5 2 8 9 1 2 9 4 6 8 3 5 7

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2024

Spartans fall in love and on their butts 2 1

PHOTOS BY ALINA TA | SPARTAN DAILY

#1: Marketing graduate students, Devin Cristobal and Jessica Ng, hold hands and skate together on the ice rink at Sharks Ice. #2: Students from SJSU tie their ice skates to their feet before wobbling into the ice rink. #3: One SJSU student laces up one of their ice skates. #4: Pruthviraj M. Urankar, a computer science graduate student, offers a hand to Vinay Bhati, a data analytics graduate student, after Bhati fell on to the icy floor. #5: A group of friends take a selfie together at the edge of the ice rink. #6: Business Administration junior Amy Huang, the president of SJSU Figure Skating, spins and glides around the center of the rink.

ABOUT The Spartan Daily prides itself on being the San José 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 José State students as an expression of their First Amendment rights. Reader feedback may be submitted as letters to the editor or online comments.

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CORRECTIONS POLICY The Spartan Daily corrects all significant errors that are brought to our attention. If you suspect we have made such an error, please send an email to spartandaily@gmail.com. EDITORIAL POLICY Columns are the opinion of individual writers and not that of the Spartan Daily. Editorials reflect the majority opinion of the Editorial Board, which is made up of student editors.

SPORTS

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2024

PHOTO COURTESY OF SJSU ATHLETICS

San José State’s new football head coach Ken Niumatalolo poses during a professional photoshoot for the SJSU football team while holding up a ‘hang loose’ hand symbol.

New football head coach says Aloha By Nikita Bankar

earned the Lambert Trophy in 2015, winning best team in the East for After leading the United the first time since 1963, States Naval Academy for according to the SJSU 15 seasons and becoming Athletics website. the American Athletic He is also the only coach Conference Coach of the in Navy history to win Year three times, Ken Niumatalolo was named San José State’s thirtieth head football coach on Jan. 21. Niumatalolo said he played baseball growing up and both basketball and football in high school. He said he ultimately pursued football after getting a scholarship to play for the University of Hawai’i. “When I was in Hawaii, three consecutive football I was encouraged to get bowl games, according to into sports because it the same site. seemed like all the young A team must obtain people were playing down a record either equal to there,” Niumatalolo said. or better than its losses Niumatalolo said overall, with 6-6 being the after he played for the minimum requirement, to University of Hawai’i, he be eligible for bowl games, was a graduate assistant according to an article by for two years and then MSN. got hired full-time and Now being the head coached there for three football coach at SJSU, years. Niumatalolo said the He said he had an biggest strategy he opportunity to go to the will take away from his Naval Academy with experience in the Naval his coach Paul Johnson Academy is leadership. following his time at the “After being head coach university. to young men at the Under Niumatalolo’s clinical academy, I learned leadership, the Navy how to read individuals SENIOR STAFF WRITER

through not only the game of football but through their academic lives too,” Niumatalolo said. “I got to experience leading young people into character, which I’m going to bring here.”

a good person, a good citizen and a good person in the community.” John Estes, offensive line coach, also joined the coaching staff in 2024. Estes played in the NFL for the Jacksonville

After being head coach to young men at the clinical academy, I learned how to read individuals through not only the game of football but through their academic lives too. Ken Niumatalolo SJSU head football coach

Niumatalolo said when it comes to the goals he set for the football team, being too focused on wins on the field can make you lose sight of the victories in life. He also said the goals for both him and the rest of the coaching staff are to develop young men of character, so they want to win with confidence and be a part of the college football playoffs. “S ometimes you could be a good football player to win games, but it doesn’t mean you're better than anybody else,” he said. “Hopefully you are recognized for being

Jaguars (2010-12) and Arizona Cardinals ( 2014) and the CFL for the Calgary Stampeders (2015), according to the athletics website. Estes said developing players off the field is bigger than anything, which is something he learned from his previous coaching experience. “The way you are as a person actually does really matter, even in the NFL,” Estes said. “Whether you are on or off the roster, your character matters. Just because you made more money doesn't mean you can manage your life, even after you're done

with your career.” Estes said Niumatalolo is someone who will not only guide a team of good character but will treat everyone equally. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a head coach, a student assistant or a graduate assistant,” Estes said. “He knows everyone can bring something to the table.” Outside linebackers coach Josh Irvin said he met Niumatalolo at UCLA where he spent two years as a recruiting analyst. Irvin said when Niumatalolo first called him about joining the SJSU coaching staff, his intentions were clear. “It was obvious that he was going to lead this team with love, and create relationships with the players,” Irvin said. “He loves to be successful and put his players and his program in a successful position.” Bojay Filmoeatu, inside linebackers coach and run game coordinator, said he joined the coaching staff in 2024 for the second time and coached SJSU linebackers in 2017. Filmoeatu said after coaching at SDSU, he’s going to bring the mentality

of creating tough-minded, clear-minded and hardworking players at SJSU. “When we start spring ball training and then head into fall camp, I want them to play hard and get 1% better every single day,” Filmoeatu said. The SJSU football season will start on Saturday, Aug. 31, according to FB Schedules. F i l m o e at u said Niumatalolo’s humble and hardworking personality traits are his best attributes and the ones he will bring to the team. “He really is a genuine person and a great mentor for not just myself, but the players,” Filmoeatu said. “He’s a humble leader, which I think all of us need in this industry.”

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CAMPUS VOICES

Kai Torres

Kristian Caraos

Julia Chapman

Valentino Canelo

Business senior

Business MIS junior

Anthropology senior

Kinesiology freshman

“I thought about the Super Bowl like it was the full American dream, like I don't know, it has everything.”

“Pretty disappointing. I grew up a Niners fan and you know, grew up in the Bay. So I got to see them in a couple of Super Bowls. Always see them in the playoﬀs. I’ve been through some rough years, but this one is probably the most disappointing that I've seen. Just for how close they were.”

“Very exciting and unexpected. I was rooting for whoever scored the ﬁrst point. And that was the 49ers and then I was rooting for them for half the game and then I totally switched over because I could tell that the Chiefs were deﬁnitely going to win.”

“I wanted my 49ers to win. We were so close . . . Honestly, also, I think Taylor Swift had too much show (screen) time.”

AIKMAN FANG | SPARTAN DAILY