Thursday, March 19, 2020
Volume 154 No. 25 WWW.SJSUNEWS.COM/SPARTAN_DAILY
SERVING SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934
COVID-19
SJSU students ‘shelter in place’ By Vicente Vera SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR
Two types of students strolled in and out of Campus Village on Monday: those carrying luggage to their cars and those walking out of the Village Market with paper bags full of food. “We were just worried that we might not be able to get stuff since almost every store my friends went to were out of stock,” said aviation freshman Sungwoo Cho, who resides in Campus Village B. “We don’t really have a car to go into the stores in the first place.” The Santa Clara County Public Health Department announced a shelter-in-place order Monday, instructing all residents to stay indoors except for “certain essential activities.” Cho and his friends bought a 24-pack of water, stacks of frozen food, bags of Doritos and a few bottles of Gatorade as well. “We basically cleared out the freezer so we could actually survive,” he said. “But if some restaurants stayed open for Uber Eats or something, we would get that primarily and then eat this [food] second.” Many shelves at the Village Market were empty, including the sushi, juice and some of the freezer aisles. Students also emptied the chip and ramen noodles racks, with market employees restocking items just as fast as students took them to the register. Village Market employees were unavailable for comment. The Spartan Food Pantry, Dining Commons and
AS OF MARCH 18
CHRISTIAN TRUJANO | SPARTAN DAILY
Students load up on food and supplies as they prepare to “shelter in place” because of the coronavirus Monday.
Village Market were the few campus food services that remained open after the “shelter-in-place” order. At the food pantry, students staying in San Jose lined up to pack bags of food and avoid packed supermarkets struggling to stay in stock. “I actually went back to [Los Angeles] hoping I was going to be a little bit better over there but going to Target and seeing, like, my family kind of struggle to get goods was kind of scary,” meteorology senior Liliana Chicas said. “So then I came back here and then it was kind of the same thing.” She said that she passed the food pantry by chance and immediately hopped in line to grab goods. At stores
SJSU postpones commencement follow @SpartanDaily for live updates
outside of SJSU, she said customers have emptied far too many shelves for her to buy anything in bulk. “I feel like it would be really difficult to stock up, especially with the amount people are grabbing,” Chicas said. “I personally don’t think I could do it. So I’m kind
Italy: 31,506 confirmed cases
of just grabbing what I need for the week and hoping you know, that’s enough.” Many students scrambled for food as more businesses at SJSU closed their doors. “We’re really hungry and there’s, like, a shortage of food on campus, so we just got some necessities
China: 81,116 confirmed cases
for today,” said business freshman Natalie, who chose to only provide her first name because of privacy concerns. “We tried to be healthy and get some fruit, but there wasn’t much.” She stocked up on Cup Noodles, Lunchables and water before heading back to her dorms, unsure about what could happen the next day. After finding out she would be out of a job for the next few weeks, Natalie said she is staying in Campus Village B until the university sends a mandatory eviction notice. “I’m from really far away, I don’t know if my parents can pick me up. I could get on a flight but I don’t know if the airports are closing down,”
Natalie said. “I’m just living day-by-day right now.” International business freshman Cesia Kawada said she went to sleep Sunday night with the intention of staying on campus through spring break. The next morning, she found herself quickly getting ready to go back to her Los Angeles home. “I’m still packing, it’s been more than 30 minutes,” she said. Meanwhile her roommate in Campus Village 2, graphic design freshman Alison Chen, came out of the apartment complex with a pillow over her hamper full of clothes. “For me, it was two hoursish to pack,” Chen said. Some students, on the other hand, are more concerned about rallying for tuition reimbursements because of classes moving online. Mechanical engineering freshman Taha Abdulsalam said he wants to petition for the school to give him a refund on lost in-person services, such as parking, Wi-Fi and health services. “Just because the coronavirus is taking effect and it’s spreading, doesn’t mean we have to take the loss on our finances,” Abdulsalam said. “It’s also good for the university because they can take pride in their name by showing how they care about their students.”
Follow Vicente on Twitter @VicenteSJSU Mauricio La Plante contributed to this article.
UPD dispels ICE on-campus fears By Chelsea Nguyen Fleige & Dan Nguyen EXECUTIVE EDITOR & STAFF WRITER
United States: 3,536 confirmed cases
South Korea: 8,320 confirmed cases
Japan: 829 confirmed cases
SOURCE: WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION; INFOGRAPHIC BY MARCI SUELA
SJSU cancels study abroad trips over pandemic risks By Chelsea Nguyen Fleige EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Japanese food and language, the warm welcome of a homestay family and the promise of rich cultural immersion to finish off a senior year all gone. “When the program was canceled, I could honestly say I felt heartbroken and crushed,” said sociology senior Samantha Vazquez. “Going to Japan was a huge dream of mine and it
was finally going to be a real possibility. I had already gotten my hopes up and was imagining what this big adventure was going to be like.” Vazquez signed up in January for the Faculty-Led Program to Japan. However, because of the new coronavirus pandemic, SJSU canceled the travel portion of the trip on March 11 for precautionary reasons, said Kenneth Mashinchi, senior director of media relations for SJSU. Students signed up to
travel on university trips were notified on Monday of the Study Abroad and Away program’s cancellations. “The news came after we were alerted that school was closed for the rest of the semester, which added extra disillusionment to the fact that my senior year was ending so abruptly,” Vazquez said. Mashinchi also confirmed that the travel portions of the TRAVEL | Page 2
With public schools shut down and only essential personnel working, many Californians are stuck at home. For undocumented immigrants, this may cause anxiety. But the approximately 2.6 million undocumented immigrants living in California, as estimated by the Public Policy Institute of California, don’t need to fear a knock on their front door from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. ICE announced Wednesday that it would stop making arrests, except for those that are considered “mission critical” until after dangers posed by the COVID-19 crisis had passed. In a tweet posted March 5, Department of Homeland S e c u r it y sp oke sp e rs on Heather Swift said, “ICE does not conduct operations at health care facilities. Anyone in need of medical care should seek care.” Exceptions to this temporary policy include people without legal status who pose a risk to public safety or those who are subject to detention on criminal charges, ICE stated.
ICE does not conduct operations at health care facilities. Anyone in need of medical care should seek care. Heather Swift Department of Homeland Security spokesperson
Gina Di Napoli, University Police Department chief, said in an interview with the Spartan Daily that at any given time, it’s highly unlikely for ICE agents to be at the San Jose State campus. “ICE is looking for people that are selling drugs, committing felonies, doing stuff that is criminal to the community,” Di Napoli said. She said that San Jose State students don’t need to worry about ICE coming on campus. “We have never got a tip or anything regarding if a student was undocumented or not, and even if we did, we wouldn’t do anything,” Di Napoli said. However, ICE could still be present outside of San Jose State. “People should be aware of what’s going on, having general knowledge with anything IMMIGRATION | Page 2